***I suspect his bills were paid automatically.***
I was thinking the same thing. With everything online - there is less mail and very little face-to-face, or phone connections to ‘live’ people.
If his family had children, grandchildren and in-laws, they may not have been in regular phone contact or even email...believing the other family members would let them know of concerns.
We are a very disconnected society - separated by miles and memories.
I saw a piece recently about the difference between “networks” and “community”.
Once upon a time, we lived in communities — they knew you at the post office and at the corner store and at church. Your neighbors stopped by and people couldn’t just “disappear” without everyone noticing.
Today we just have networks. I post on Free Republic, I have a LinkedIn account, maybe I have a Facebook account. But no one knows me. People are “connected” but are also extremely isolated. If someone disappears it could be months before anyone would even shrug and say, “Haven’t seen him in a while.”
Not good for society.