When was your first experience with death?

In 1989, it was seeing my grandfather on that cold stainless steel table 3 feet away from me.

When I was 4 watching a movie about campers getting all slashed up.

When I was 4 and almost drowned.  It was a great experience.  I wanted to go back in after I was rescued and fought my rescuers telling them I wanted to go back.  It is one of the very few things I remember about my childhood, there is a snippet of it as clear as if it happened yesterday.  

  This is a great question; I hope you get equally great answers.

  I can’t remember how old I was, maybe five or six, but a relative on my mother’s side of the family died and my mother and stepfather attended the funeral. My siblings and I did not go with them, we spent the day at our grandmother’s house. My stepfather hardly ever wore a suit and NEVER attended church, so it really stuck out in my mind seeing him all dressed up that day. My mother, the daughter of a Baptist preacher, was always at church.

  I remember the mood around our house and at my grandmother’s house was very somber, even though my siblings and I weren’t exactly told to act somber, we picked up on the adults’ vibe and emulated it.

  When my mother and stepfather returned to my grandmother’s house to pick us up, the ride home was really strange. My mother was very sad and had been crying, my stepfather was his usual stoic self. My mother kept going on and on about how ridiculous it was that funerals cost so much money, the casket was too ornate and too expensive, the funeral home was one of the most expensive ones in town, etc. Then she said, “When it’s my time to go, I don’t want all that money spent on me, just get a simple pine box that doesn’t cost anything and bury me in the back yard.” My stepfather, clearly annoyed, shut her down by saying, “Don’t be talking like that, you have a long, long time before you go.”

  In retrospect, with the wisdom of more mature thought, I believe he only said it to keep her from talking about her impending death in front of her children. At the time, however, it meant nothing to me at all, because I couldn’t conceptualize my mother ever dying, it was completely foreign to me. Dying only took place in the movies, I thought then, even though that same actor or actress would reappear one day on another role or a repeat airing of the same role. Death had no finality nor realism to me.
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My uncle died when I was living with him and my aunt. I was too young and didn't understand the concept.

When I was 17 a  guy that lived on my block hung himself. Of all the kids that lived on my block he was the last one that I thought would kill him self so it was pretty weird. Cheers!

I can't answer because I don't remember.
But I guess I just answered.

"11 years old" should not be hyphenated. You seem to overuse the hyphen for some reason.

As to your question, my father's mother died in 1976 when I was 16. Hers was the first family funeral I attended. The first funeral I attended was for a family acquaintance, about a year earlier when I was 15.

I was 16 when a neighbor/schoolmate kid was killed in a train/car crash. I had a hard time accepting that he was dead, I kept thinking I might see him alive again.

I was around nine years old when my grandfather died.  I only remember being at the wake and staying by the door watching the casket, which was on the opposite side of the room.  I thought if I stared hard and long enough I would see my pawpaw sit up.  I stayed away from funerals my whole life pretty much....as much as I could, anyway.  I will never be an old woman who goes to funerals for social reasons.  

I don't remember it well, I was two when my paternal grandmother passed. Gran was there, and then she wasn't. I didn't understand why she had to go to Heaven.
The first one I remember clearly was my great-grandmother's passing, I was ten.

My first experience with death was when I was like 6 the family dog died.  

Reading these answers reminds me that I was very blessed in that I did not loose a Grandparent until I was about 16.  My maternal Grandpa.  And did not loose anymore until my 30s. Not loosing my last Grandparent until my fortys in 2019. My maternal Grandma who had made it a few months past her 100th birthday. 

When my first child was born she had 13 living Grandparents. (Not all biological...some steps but Grandparents in every way), now down to 3 as of Feb 2021. This post was edited by my2cents at July 31, 2021 6:29 PM MDT