Yes, it is sad, and hopefully he had plenty of life insurance. If he worked, I think his wife will qualify for something like $700 per kid per month in social security survivor benefits, which will help. Until they turn 18.
How’d you get that number? They might get even $1000 each, EXCEPT there’s a limit on the total dollars for the entire family, which will severely crunch the total amount.
$700 for the FIRST TWO kids, nothing after that. The government wants you to know that it decides how many kids you should have.