the lady i just bought my house from was alone
she bought the house in the 50s, her husband was a fighter pilot in WW2 who then became a test pilot. they were married for 4 years and then he died in an accident while testing a plane. she lived alone with their toddler daughter who then moved away as soon as she was 18. then the lady lived alone for the rest of her life. she worked as a school teacher so she wasnt a shut in, but she never remarried or anything.
my brother in law is her neighbor across the street and started saying hello to her when he walked by. she started waving him over to tell him stories and she told him that she hadnt told anyone those stories for like 40 years. he said it was cool because she was 100% mentally lucid, so she could talk about any event from WW2-present in clear first hand knowledge like a human wikipedia
shes in her 90s now and finally moved to a nursing home, she gave me a good deal for the sake of my BIL, thats how i bought her house
its sad because she felt that she wouldve betrayed her late husband by remarrying, so she was a widow for like 60 years. 60 years of marriage she missed out on because he died
i feel like its a white person thing though, most other cultures have too strong of family ties to let one family member live alone unless they really wanted to. like my mom or aunt or uncle visit my grandma at least once a day