With the death of Ruth Willig at 98, a Times series on a set of the oldest New Yorkers chronicled over seven years in 21 articles offers their lessons on living with loss.
How the Oldest Old Can Endure Even This
No visitors. No friends at the dining table. Neighbors dying without notice. But many older adults have proved resilient during the pandemic, a phenomenon known as “crisis competence.”
Like the rest of us, Ruth Willig, 97, found pandemic life depressing. Lately things have been improving.Credit.Judith Willig
Jan. 1, 2021
It was sometime in the spring that Ruth Willig, then 96, first compared her pandemic life to being in prison. My mother, Dorothy, was still alive then, in a building much like the assisted-living facility in Brooklyn where Ruth lives. The buildings had shut down all visitors and stopped all group activities, including meals in the dining room. Residents spent their days in their apartments, alone.