Because being old has it's own challenges and you have to give the old ones a break.
Your loved ones are all dying off. You feel like you played professional football without any protective equiptment every day of the year. You can't enjoy any new entertainment because it seems so foreign with all the bad language. You can't drive around or easily walk around anymore so you have to depend on others. Food doesn't taste the same or it has it's consequences.
I realize this woman took it to an extreme but I think all she is asking to be left alone. Too bad for both parties. They might have been able to work things out without the courts and a little patience.
Some of the nastiest people I know are quite a bit older and there is no way I could garner respect for them just because they are older.
That is just absurd to me.