You can say you were widowed. You do not have to, and you do not have to tell the story to earn a reply. "Widowed, in my sixties, looking for company and a proper relationship if it is the right person" is enough for a profile. People who cannot meet you where you are will not be the ones you wanted anyway.
You are not late. A new person is someone you might add to a life that already happened. A profile does not need to prove you have moved on. If you are only curious, say you want company and that you are not in a hurry. If you want a relationship, say that. Both are allowed. They should not be written as the same sentence, because a stranger cannot answer both at once.
Leave his name, the illness, and the date off the profile. Those belong to you. You can tell them later, to someone you have met and trust, or you can never tell a stranger at all. A profile that reads as a memorial is a hard thing to answer, and it hands private grief to people you have not chosen.
Use a photo of you now. A picture from the wedding, or from a holiday you took together, leaves the other person unsure who they would be meeting, and it publishes someone who cannot agree. One recent face, in ordinary light, is the useful one.
Suggest a small plan. Coffee, a walk, or lunch is enough. You do not owe a long evening, and you do not owe an introduction to your children or your friends. The first meeting stays in a public place. Tell a friend where you are going, and leave in your own car or your own cab. The meeting-safely guide is the rest of that.
Be wary of a man who is devoted before he has met you, who will not do a video call, or who has a problem only money can fix. That pattern is aimed at women who are polite and newly alone. Read the romance-scam guide and stop if it fits. Only Dating is free. There is no fee to keep a conversation going, and no reason to move it to another app in the first week.
If you are divorced rather than widowed, use the guide for women after a divorce. If you are in your sixties, that guide covers the shape of an ordinary day. The order here is the same: messages, a short video call, then a public place.
Create a free account to message someone on Only Dating.