In the meantime...try to track down your eligibility for your hb's pension.
Unless when your hb got signed up for his pension, it may have cost extra for him to put a wife on for benefits.

My friends hb was with steam fitters/pipe union....he got a decent pension after 20 years, but he got cancer and died at 48.
His wife was never added to his pension cause it would have cost him more for his monthly dues. She was 45.