Thanks for all the really good information. I'm going to print this thread out and take it with me when I head home for Christmas tomorrow.
After reading through it, I think that what would be required is not financially feasible. All of this information has saved me hours and days of research that I still would not have been able to interpret. I have toyed with the idea of a generator myself since leaving spouse and all the gear that made it possible for us to get through major winter power outages sans generator. (Every 4-6 years we get a major ice storm that has left us without power for 7-10 days. It is pretty clear it would be more cost effective for me to reaquire much of the camping gear, hurricane lanterns, cold weather sleeping bags, etc., as well as a propane or kerosene heater that could keep one room warm enough.
Ebbie, I think my parents are still a little stunned at what an ordeal this 4 day stint was for them. Their preferred solution is to not have the power get knocked out for more than 24 hours. Mom is quite realistic about the inappropriateness of that big house, and perfectly willing to give nephew the boot. Dad, who is actually in much more frail condition than Mom, is completely unrealistic and resistant.
I just cut and pasted to iPages a long post that I realize is fodder for a whole different thread not related to generators, but to one or several topics about aging, family, the impact of the financial downturn on folks whose retirement income and savings were already quite modest, the sandwich generation and/or what happens when families are scattered across the country or region for economic reasons, etc.
All I will say here is a brief reply to bubblyrat - gee, I would love to. In a more ideal world we would have all stayed relatively near one another in WV to live out our lives. However, sister and I felt obligated to earn our own livings and had to leave WV to do so. Neither of us are about to move back there in our late 50's, well before retirement age, and live off of our parents' retirement income, which is what would be required.