The last leaf on the vine: What is lost when a generation passes away

The last leaf on the vine: What is lost when a generation passes away 
Inside Higher Ed, by Steven Mintz; 2/6/24
... For my extended family, my mother is (or was, depending on when you read this piece) the last leaf on the vine, the last surviving member of a generation born in the 1920s that personally recalls the hardships of the Great Depression and the disruptions, upheavals, sacrifices and horrors of World War II. And that leaf is poised to fall.