In other details of McCartney's life and death, John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono tells PEOPLE that she and Linda "used to chat about our children on the phone. Linda was very protective of them." The McCartneys had four children: Heather, 35 (from Linda's early first marriage, to fellow University of Arizona student Joseph Melville See), Mary, 27, Stella, 26, and James, 20. Recalls See, 60, now a retired geologist: "Linda stood out. I idolized her presence, her being."
As for how Paul is coping, the couple's friend, Edward Sexton, says, "The poor man. Paul loved Linda more than life." Linda's friend, TV writer Carla Lane, spoke with Paul shortly after his wife died. She says: "He's being very spiritual about her death. He feels she is still around. She was his life. I just hope he can cope when it really hits him."