CLEVELAND, Ohio - "Respect.'' That one-word admonition became the mainstay on social media when word came Monday that Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Aretha Franklin is gravely ill.

Franklin, 76, died of pancreatic cancer at her home on Thursday morning, surrounded by her family.

"In one of the darkest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our heart. We have lost the matriarch and rock of our family,'' her family said to CNN's Don Lemon. "The love she had for her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins knew no bounds," Franklin's family said.

"So terribly sad that the 'Queen Of Soul' has passed on,'' said Rock & Roll Hall of Fame guitarist Steve Cropper, who was inducted as part of Booker T. and the M.G.'s and played guitar for the fictional Blues Brothers - John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, in the movie that featured her singing "Think." "The absolute greatest of all time. So many through the years have tried to copy, imitate and become her, but failed. There will never be another... just as there will never be another Otis Redding. Many greats to listen to, but only one each of that caliber."

"Respect." The word is more than the title of one of her most popular songs. It's also the most appropriate sentiment echoed time and again, by fans, journalists and people in and outside of the music industry.

"My most vivid memory of that is that she agreed to come but not to perform,'' said Lauren Onkey, who was in charge of putting together the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's 2011 American Music Masters concert honoring Franklin, who in 1987 became the very first woman inducted into the Rock Hall.

"I went to get her from her box - she was going to receive the award and I was getting my courage up to ask her to perform, and she leaned over and said, 'I'd like a piano, please,' '' said Onkey, who now lives in Washington, D.C., and is senior director of NPR music.

"She ended the night at the piano doing the great Leon Russell's song 'A Song for You,' which she had covered and made her own,'' said Onkey.

"For the first time, I really paid attention to her piano playing,'' Onkey said, noting that growing up amid the gospel sounds of Memphis before moving to Detroit infused Franklin with an innate sense of subtleties and melodies.

"She was just a master pianist, and people don't think of that,'' she said.

John Soeder, who covered that 2011 show for The Plain Dealer, captured the moment for print, and recalled it in an email.

"I stand by what I wrote in my review of that last one: 'That once-in-a-lifetime voice of hers remains a national treasure. It is a voice as big as America. And from sea to shining sea, it can carry just about any style of tune you like. Gospel. Blues. R&B. Pop. Rock 'n' roll. Yes, even jazz.''

As effusive as his praise was, Soeder missed a genre. In 1998, an ailing Luciano Pavarotti had to pull out of the Grammy Awards broadcast. His replacement for his signature aria from Giacomo Puccini's "Turandot,'' "Nessun Dorma,'' was Franklin.

"Still gives me goosebumps,'' said Clevelander Keleigh Rae Bowling, who attached a video of the performance to her Facebook post.

Facebooker Sherri Watson Lehman agreed.

"Aretha is everything,'' Lehman posted. " 'Chain of Fools,' those vocal runs, 'Nessun Dorma,' singing for [Barack] Obama when she wore that huge fur and just slung it on the stage.

"She is the voice of baby boomer women,'' Lehman wrote. "Sending her love and hopes for a peaceful transition. God must be seeing the [expletive] going on down here and needs Aretha to cheer up.''

"I worked with Aretha a couple of times,'' said Jeannie Emser, who is now part of the media relations team at Playhouse Square and worked the old Front Row. "She liked working Cleveland because she wouldn't fly, and Cleveland was close enough for her driver to get her here from Detroit.''

Missy Elliott, the rapper, singer, dancer and producer, was one of many who took to Twitter to voice support and love for Franklin . . . and others.

"My prayers are with Aretha Franklin & her family during this difficult time,'' Elliott tweeted, and added "We MUST CELEBRATE the Living Legends while they are here to see it,'' citing Franklin as well as Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner and Patti LaBelle.

For some of us, one of the defining Aretha moments comes during the film "The Blues Brothers,'' when she sings "Think'' to her husband as Jake and Ellwood Blues - John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd - show up at their diner to "put the band back together.''

"Aretha Franklin's 'Chain of Fools' inspired me to love Motown music!" wrote Judy Campbell in a Facebook post. "She taught me that the Music and the Arts reach across all levels of society and make us all better people.''

"Squarely in the upper echelon as an incredibly important figure in music,'' said Rock Hall President and CEO Greg Harris when asked in a telephone interview just where he sees Franklin's legacy.

"You may have noticed it symbolically, but she was the first female inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987,'' he said. "That's pretty powerful.''

Harris, who had not yet ascended into the leadership role in 2011, was on the Rock Hall staff for that American Music Masters moment, but missed her first, in 2005, when the Rock Hall paid homage to the late Sam Cooke.

It was another opportunity for Plain Dealer writer Soeder to break out the superlatives in a review:

"Resplendent in a white choir robe and pearls, Franklin danced across the stage in her stocking feet as she closed the show with a roof-raising set,'' he wrote. "She delivered a triumphant 'He Never Lost a Fight' while tambourine-shaking backing vocalists proclaimed: 'He rose! He rose! He rose!' "

"Her talent was off the charts,'' Soeder wrote in a separate email. "Aretha Franklin will forever be synonymous with soul because her music took us places typically off limits to mere mortals.''

And it was important.

"You have to think about her role in that pivotal moment with rock 'n' roll and gospel and the civil rights movement,'' said the Rock Hall's Harris. Hers was a voice that sounded "an amazing rallying cry for anybody suffering from neglect and discrimination'' that allowed them to find solace in music.

"It wasn't 'accepting,'' he said. "It was uplifting.''

And worthy of "Respect,'' then and now.