While there are always some who live a long time, longer than anyone they themselves know, the idea that men used to outlive their wives by many years isn't that remarkable. In the 19th century, one of my great-great-grandfathers was married three times (five kids by the first one, a second wife who died after about a year, perhaps from childbirth, and a third wife, my ancestor, who added another thirteen children) died an old man in the flu epidemic of 1873, which also claimed his third wife.
Sometimes people look at statistics and draw the wrong conclusions. If there is high infant mortality, and high mortality in childbirth, the average life expectancy of females goes way down. It is mistaken, however, to conclude that a woman who had survived these perils would soon die just because she had exceeded the mean average lifespan.