The music icon sent the world into mourning after succumbing to a lengthy —and very private—battle with pancreatic cancer at age 76, but hernephew Tim Franklinsays her global fame paled next to her enormous heart.
“The Queen of Soul — we didn’t know her,” Tim says of Franklin’s role as the family matriarch. “She was able to keep that separate from her personal life, so we never knew the Queen of Soul. Rather, we knew that was an accomplishment that she had made.”
“We had all lost our parents – she stepped in and filled the gap,” he continues. “She was the last one of the siblings, and when my aunt Erma and my dad died within a couple months of each other, she stepped right in and put her feelings aside even though she was grieving a loss that was two months apart. She might have grieved in private, but we never saw it.”
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PEOPLE reported on Monday that Franklin was in the midst of a health crisis, witha friend of the artist explainingthat the singer has “been ill for a long time” and her loved ones had been warned her “death is imminent.”
Later that day,Tim told PEOPLEthat his aunt was resting at home. “She’s alert, laughing, teasing, able to recognize people,” Tim said. “Family is there with her.”
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Fans have speculated about Franklin’s health since sheunderwent a mystery surgery on Dec. 2, 2010.At the time she didn’t reveal what the procedure was for, saying only that it was “highly successful.” But later that week, a relative told Fox 2 in her hometown of Detroit that she had cancer, and theNational Enquirerreported that it was pancreatic.
In January 2011, Franklin said that she’s “not going to even deal with” thereports of her cancer. Through to the end, she refused to speak of it publicly.
“My aunt had a heck of a life,” says Tim. “In the end — just like in the beginning — she reached out to the one who sustained her and refused to let go.”
source: people.com
