An overheard discussion of older women

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When I was in college, I took an adult and aging psychology course. The professor was a popular teacher and students lined up to take his classes. In one particular class, the discussion centered around older people, senior citizens and their behaviors. The professor had done quite a bit of work with senior citizens so he had quite a few anecdotal stories to tell. He told us of how senior citizen women became quite "catty" when it came to women who'd lost their husbands or otherwise had something happen that changed the balance of the relationship. I found all this to be amusing, and wondered it it was really true. Well, it wasn't long before I was sitting in a local Denny's doing some homework and studying when I overheard snippets of a conversation. I looked around for the conversation and I found four senior citizen women sitting at a table. They were all dressed in high fashion clothing, make-up, jewelry, hair done, all decked out for brunch. As I listened, I overheard them verbally tearing apart some woman who had been a part of their inner circle but had had her husband die and was now a threat to them. It seems that married women are more afraid of losing their husbands to single/widowed women as they age. I'd never really paid much attention, but I found the conversation riveting. I went back to school the next week and told my professor of my experience. He actually gave me a few points of extra credit (that I really didn't need) for paying attention to my real world experiences. Have you ever noticed this type of thing?