A couple of years ago, we got a nasty shock when my 98-year-old great-aunt died unexpectedly. It's happened again, with her sister Ethel (known to a lot of the family as "Auntie Sis," because she had the same first name as her mother, my great-grandmother), who died in her sleep last Sunday night. She would've celebrated her hundredth birthday this fall.
You might not think the peaceful death of a 99-year-old would count as a nasty shock, but again, she was a remarkable woman. She still lived by herself in a great big house, and still took care of the place herself, and drove herself everywhere. She wasn't in any kind of ill health (beyond the general issues that come from being very old), and we assumed she would outlive all of us.
I didn't spend as much time with her as with her sister, because she had her own family-- three kids, nine grandkids, and six great-grandkids, the newest addition born just a week or two ago. She was always around, though, and no summer visit to Long Island was complete without at least one visit to Auntie Sis's house. For many years she, my grandmother, and their sister Dorothy (who died back in 2003) were kind of a package deal, showing up together at all manner of family events, including regular visits up to my parents'.
It's a pretty rough period for the family, as you might guess, especially since two of my grandmother's three remaining brothers are ailing (for values of "ailing" that include "was a contestant on 'The Price Is Right' a month ago"-- this is a pretty robust family). I'll be heading down to Long Island tonight for the funeral tomorrow, and while SteelyKid offered her services as a mood-lifter ("Couldn't we go down there and do fun things and make everybody happy again?"), it'll be a solo trip, and I'll be coming back tomorrow. But that's pretty much going to wipe me out for the rest of the weekend, so don't expect much online activity from me until next week (with the possible exception of using Twitter for stress relief...).
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Your family sounds much like mine in the longevity, and power of personality, departments. You have my deepest condolences.
Also, SteelyKid is a treasure. I bet your antecedents were/are incredibly proud of her :)
:(
My condolences. I've experienced about as many tragedies of the "life cut short" variety, losing several students whose time came MUCH too soon, as I have of losing elderly relatives. I think the latter are felt even more strongly because, as you put it, you eventually assume they will always be there just as they have always been there for as long as you can remember.
Condolences, to you and your family. May her memory be a blessing.