My mom chose (I believe) to slip away privately when her last visitor, my sister, left the room. I hear that happens a lot. The important thing is that she felt loved in her last years — I sure hope she did. It's weird how people tend to think of the way someone died as some kind of final grade on how they lived their lives. How many times have we read about somebody famous or high-achieving who then died "alone and penniless" — like, wow, guess all the cool stuff they accomplished didn't mean squat. Fie on that.