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Aog, did you not know that 'lifelong bachelor', 'confirmed bachelor' and, in obituaries,and strangely, ' her never married' significantly put at the end, were all expressions in newspapers to tell the readers that the subject was homosexual? That dates to a time when homosexual acts were illegal and it was thought unnecessary, or libellous, to say, in plain terms, that a man was homosexual. It was universal in papers, but still occasionally occurs and lingers on in some obituaries, perhaps because the living obituary has not been re-edited in recent years.
In the instant case, the word 'lifelong' is more than simply literal,just as it always has been in newspapers. The paper knows that. The information has no relevance to the story and appears gratuitous. It could have said simply 'bachelor'; a bachelor is a man who has never been married, for otherwise he is divorced, widowed or separated.
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