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Hello! That "generation" bit always was a bit fuzzy. I don't know whether the JWs once (such as immediately after 1914) defined a generation as "20 or 30 years", i.e., the usual way we think of the time between one generation and the next. I do know from first-hand experience that during the 70s and 80s, "generation" was explained as "a lifespan", which still allowed a bit of breathing room as the decades since 1914 kept passing. 

I wouldn't be the least surprised if, as you suggest, "generation" has now lost even that meaning, and is just an undefined length of time. To be honest, I would have loved to be at the first meeting where that change was announced to a congregation! 

That is truly sad. My own "falling away from the truth" was so much easier than it's been for many ex-Witnesses, as only my immediate family were witnesses, and all fell away at about the same time. So we didn't have any tragic family breakup (well, at least not for that reason!). Whenever I'm tempted to tell an uncertain believer "Just leave, man", I have to remember that it's not equally easy for everyone.

Do you listen to The Atheist Experience podcast/TV show? It seems to that about the most frequent call-in question they receive is from ex-believers wanting to know how to break away from a religion without their families blowing up. What's even sadder: the show hosts know, from experience, that there is no surefire way to avoid this...

Regarding your mother, perhaps she and other Witnesses with her mindset took the reinvention of the "generation" timeline as something akin to a last-minute stay of execution from the Governor, a temporary reprieve that gives sinners one more chance to repent and be pardoned. Maybe they're genuinely gladdened by the new timeline. I don't know. I can no longer put myself in the shoes of people hoping (?) for the world to end...