Sad news.
Why should we hear about body bags and deaths? It’s not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?
A woman of grace and dignity. In fact both of them have my respect.
IMHO, it would be sad if we were talking about someone in her 50s or 60s. This chick is 92. She’s had a really good run. I think decisions like this can be bitter-sweet. But sad? I just don’t get how, unless you know her personally and will miss her.
At any rate, BB is the only First Lady I’ve ever meet in person. I shook her hand when I was in the seventh grade.
What is the illness?
She’s been struggling with COPD for a long time.
I’m sad to know this. She impressed me on a number of occasions, most notably on an appearance on The David Letterman Show when she said she and her husband never voted the straight ticket; they voted for the person they thought best for the office, regardless of party.
I may not have known her personally, but I’ve liked her from afar.
I always liked her, she always seemed quite genuine.
She’s a classy lady, and down-to-earth. I pray for comfort and peace.
I don’t blame her, if prospects for any kind of a normal life are remote, and at her age this seems like a reasonable and emotionally healthy decision.
Having said that, I could not believe the news story said “the wife and mother of two presidents.” That is, I couldn’t believe it until I saw that it was USA Today, the death camp for editorial judgment. For any who wonder why I say this, it would be correct to say “the wife of one president and mother of another.” The way they put it sounds distinctly Oedipean, if not physically impossible.
I always liked her. Nuff said.
It took me a couple of tries to properly parse the “rock in the face off” part. Not sure if the OP cut and pasted and it was corrected later but the “off” is now “of”.
Being 92?
By the way, this is how I’m going out. Beer in my hand, in front of the fireplace, dogs at my feet.
COPD. Another smoking related death, alas.
When I tell someone that I’ll pray for someone’s very ill relative I don’t tell them that my prayer often is, “May it be fast and painless.”
May it be fast and painless, Birthday Twin. 
I have a feeling you may die in the desert, running the killers and blasting rock and roll on the sound system. What a way to go.
Ah, yes. If only those poor smokers knew the cigarettes they enjoy might cause their premature death at 92.
The death of any widely respected public figure is sad. at 92, it’s not tragic like a child or young adult getting killed in a car wreck, but it’s still sad.
Anybody who hits 92 dies of COPD or CHF. The body simply wears out. May Barbara’s last days be painless and filled with love.
Sorry to be pedantic, but this is incorrect. There are age-associated changes in heart and lung function, but COPD and CHF are both distinct pathological conditions which are not inevitable at any age.