I thought the Bible said that "he who dies has been acquitted from his sin". So how can the elders DF a person who has already been "acquitted" according to their own Scriptures?
It was quite the controversy. I was young at the time and was not allowed to attend the funeral nor was I in on the adult conversations. I remember that some were very upset that the announcement was made. Your comment jogged my memory; it seems that I remember people saying something about the wages sin pays is death thus she has paid, leave it alone. Some people sided with the elders. They know best, let them decide.
If I remember correctly, the consensus was that since so many people already knew she was "living in sin", the congregation (read "the elders") didn't want any reproach brought on Jehovah (read "the organization"). What made it worse was that most of the congregation knew about her living arrangements. Somehow the elders didn't find out until someone squeeled. She wsa inactive, had been for some time but that didn't stop them from making a federal case of it. I don't really know for sure, but I can almost sense a vindictiveness about it since they were in the dark for so long.
Over the years, I had forgotten about this situation. I remembered it the other day after reading another thread on DFing. Bits and pieces of it are still coming to me over the last few days.