I saw a gardening-related site being sold for several thousand dollars by an expired domain reseller after the owner died. This happens a lot. From a SEO persp

I saw a gardening-related site being sold for several thousand dollars by an expired domain reseller after the owner died. This happens a lot. From a SEO perspective, you should be fine as long as it wasn't previously a malicious or spammy site. From ethical/emotional well that's your decision. Personally I'd be fine with it