We technically buried my Uncle Carl May 5th. But there’s a reason why I share it now. It is still weighing heavily on my mind. I told my cousin that during the funeral. And it still is.
Like I told many people at the time. It greatly reminds me of 1993. That’s when I lost my last great aunt. You know she was the last of her generation. That’s what made it really poignant.
It wasn’t my Great Aunt Anna (we lost her in 1991 FWIW). But we still have pictures of Aunt Anna dressed as a flapper in the 1920’s. Tell me: can any of you say that?
I had 8 pairs of aunt/uncle. And even more pairs of great aunt/uncle. I remember losing the last great aunt, well over a decade ago, and it was sad.
Of my 8 aunts and 8 uncles, only 3 are left, 2 aunts (one the wife of my dad’s brother) and 1 uncle. My folks passed long ago. I saw both aunts and my uncle last weekend at a family reunion. there was more joy than sorrow, since it was a reunion that got us together rather than a funeral.
but I know how you feel. I just try to reflect on those perfect moments when we are together, and remember past good times with them. And it’s ok to be sad about it.
My parents are both 88 years old; Dad is the oldest of 4, Mother is the youngest of 3, and all of them are still alive.
Both of my maternal uncles are widowers (one briefly remarried but that didn’t work out) and both of my paternal uncles have also been widowed, although in one case, that was the 2nd of his 5 wives so far (don’t ask). My aunt, whom I’ve only met a couple times, is also still with us.
I can’t relate because I didn’t have any great-aunts, and my only great-uncle died before I was born. However, my grandfather (not great-grandfather) was born during the Civil War. When your great-aunt was flapping, he was in his sixties and shaking his head over young people like your aunt, who was two generations younger than he. (I’m 65.)
I’m 57; I had 10 uncles and 11 aunts (one of my mom’s sisters never married). They’re almost all gone now; I’m down to two uncles and three aunts, and none of them are particularly healthy (to be fair, they are also all ages 75+).
There were some I knew very well, and some that I barely knew, but losing one aunt, in particular, was really hard, as she and I had been close when I was a boy. After she passed away from cancer a few years ago, one of her sisters (another of my aunts) was going through her things, and found a letter that I’d written to her, close to 50 years ago – she had hung onto it all that time. That really hit me hard.
But, what has been really hitting me is how losing their siblings is affecting my parents. My dad had only the one brother, who died four years ago; my dad still dwells on that a lot, as he sees it as a harbinger of his own mortality. My mother was one of 11 kids, and now she only has two siblings left; particularly as she’s lost three of them in the last four years, she’s become very sad – she clearly doesn’t want to be the last one left.
(Also, my paternal grandmother was a flapper in the '20s; her wedding dress was a beaded flapper gown, imported from Paris.)
I’m 60. My parents are both gone. My mother was 3rd of eleven. There are 5 left. My dad was the oldest of 6. 4 are still alive. I’m one of 7. 3 (including me) are still alive. One was a set of premie twins that didn’t make it. The other 2…those are hard losses. My sister that died just 13 months ago was an identical twin - her twin isn’t doing great.
I’m 46 and have one great-uncle left. My Granny’s baby brother is 87 now and still doing pretty good. My mom is one of six, her youngest brother passed when I was a kid but Mom and the rest of the bunch are still around. My dad passed in 2009, his younger brother is still around.
I am the youngest of my generation, the last grandchild. Both of my parents were the second youngest child in large families. Both were previously married so there is his, hers and ours, me, the only and last child. We have a picture of my silver haired oldest cousin in a suit with this brat in shorts and a bow tie sitting on his lap, the oldest and youngest grandkids. My only living grandparent died when I was six. One side of my family has really excelled at producing the next generation as soon as possible. Last week I became a Great Great Great Uncle.
My mom had one brother who married, but both of them have passed. My father had two brothers. They and their wives have also died. My mom was the last of her generation. She died in 2019. Two of my 11 cousins have died, one older than me, one younger. All siblings are alive.
My last biological aunt or uncle died in 2010. My last uncle by marriage died two years ago. These were both people I knew well. Technically, I do have a step-uncle, but I don’t consider him family, as none of us ever met him.
My last *great-aunt died in 2015. I had only met her for the first time about seven or eight years earlier, but I did drop by to chat once in a while during that time.
*Technically she was a half-great-aunt from my great-grandfather’s second marriage, and she was only three years older than my mother.
Been there in just the last few years. I had only one uncle and his wife was my only aunt, and they were dear to me. My uncle was taken by lung cancer about and then only a couple of years later my aunt died suddenly after a bad case of the flu, and my parents had both passed away. I have some cousins, but my aunt and uncle’s daughter is my only 1st cousin. I have very little family left to speak of. But then I’m old, it was inevitable my parents entire generation would be gone some day.
In my parents’ generation, there were 13 pairs of aunts/uncles. They are all gone now, and now several in my own generation. I’m the last living member of my immediate family, with no descendants.
Both of my parents are the oldest, mom is one of 4 (one died in infancy, one died 10 years ago) and my dad’s only brother died six years ago.
My surviving uncle and his wife are basically house-bound due to medical issues. My mom will probably outlive him as well.
I lost my last grandparent and last great-aunt/uncle in 2019, I was 49 at the time.
Decades ago I visited another one of my great-aunts, who was in a medical facility for brain cancer. My grandma asked her what she thought of getting old, and she gave my grandma the middle finger. She was still feisty.
I am 69 years old. Both of my parents and all of my aunts and uncles are gone. Last fall my sister Patricia passed at age 82. She was the last of my siblings. Being the only remaining member of my family is strange and sometimes very lonely.
I’m 57, and my parents both died this past April at 87. My Dad’s younger sister is still alive and healthy, but is in her late seventies. 3 of my Mom’s siblings are living; her older sister is still around, and there are two siblings in their mid to late seventies. The time is coming, though, when that generation will be gone. My Dad’s sister was a “surprise baby” born 10 years after my Dad. His father had 4 kids with his first wife and 4 with my Grandma. I’m sure it has dawned on her that she’s the last of her generation.
I had a big bunch of aunts and uncles thanks step families (all nice people).
Down to one last biological and 3 in-law aunt/uncles. The last 10 years has been quite sad.
All my uncles that were of age served in WWII. Now all gone. The last was an uncle who was shot down over Hungary and had multiple near death experiences in the last months of the war. I hope he outlived all those Nazis and their supporters that treated him so badly.
One of the survivors just sold the old farmstead. That was the last family owned place from my childhood I could still go back to. The past is a different place in more ways than one.
All of the couple dozen blood great aunts & uncles I once had have died long ago. As did their spouses. I actually only met a couple of them on a couple of occasions when I was a child.
Of my 8 blood aunts & uncles, 1 yet lives and the rest are long gone. As does her husband, but all the other spouses are gone too.
My parents and both my wives’ parents are deceased. Though there is at least one of their blood uncles or aunts still surviving out there somewhere along with at least one spouse. None of their greats- are left or have been for a couple of decades now.
I’m the oldest in my direct line, as is my current wife in hers. Said another way, “we’re next!”. Ouch.
It was ever thus and will be ever thus. Get on with life. It’s the only choice we have.
