I think the thing with a pneumonia death is that it tends to be fairly
swift, and the lack of oxygen sort of creeps up on the person, so they
tend to slip into the twilight of reduced consciousness without being
accutely aware of what is happening to them.

My grandfather died from it at age 92, and he was in very, very little
distress, and sick for an extremely short period of time. He wasn't
coughing or struggling to breath - his lungs just sort of quietly
filled up, and his level of awareness slipped away. It was very quiet,
peaceful, and he did not appear to be suffering at all.

It certainly was MUCH less difficult, and much easier and more peaceful
than my grandmother's death from cancer, where she was 100% aware of
what was happening, and actively distressed until literally an hour or
two before her death (she died at home). She wasn't in physical pain,
but she was having trouble breathing (the cancer had moved into her
lungs), and she was exhausted, frightened and really, really wanted it
to be over (i.e. I was with her when the family doctor made a visit
just a few hours before she passed away, and the only thing she wanted
to know was how much longer was this going to take).

M.