death in the family

We got a call this morning that my wife's Grandmother died in her sleep last night. Death in teh family is never good news, but it's comforting to hear she went peacefully in her sleep. She was diagnosed with Dementia last May and has been slowly deteriorating since then. It'll be interesting to see how the family deals with this. This grandmother and grandfather raised my wife and her sister for a few years after their mom died early in their childhood. Their father was handicapped and was unable to care for them alone. This grandmother was the matriarch of the family in every sense of the word. She was always a strong and decisive figure in the family's life. Not controlling or domineering, but a very strong person and one of quiet, but sure guidance. Recently, she felt she'd become a burden to the rest of the family as she began to slow down due to the dementia and I believe it was harder for her to accept the fact that she was relinquishing independence than it was knowing she had a fatal and degenerative disease. She had always done for so much for everyone else that she didn't know how to accept having others do things for her. But that's just my opinion. She'll definitely be missed much by everyone.