I have decided there is nothing more personal than a hat. Eyeglasses in a drawer, toothbrushes in a glass, even plucked ducks wrapped in aluminum foil in a freezer are personal if the person who put them there is gone forever.

But nothing is quite as intimate as a hat. Shoes, shirts, other apparel—after a death, all of those things are hard to sort through or even to see.

The hats are toughest, both a source of comfort and sorrow simultaneously. A hat holds the shape of your loved one’s head, the stain from his sweaty brow, the proof of size and style. A hat is nearly a...

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