Sorry for your loss.

I've heard several stories like yours, and I believe what happened to you was real. There is obliviously a evolutionary advantage to knowing when one in your group dies. We know many insects like ants and bees have a well understood way of communicating about the death of one of their own. Humans being a higher level animal are harder to understand.

Another commonality in these stories tends to be that few and usually only one family members tend to experience this phenomena. Maybe you are a uniquely perceptive individual. Maybe you were closer than you realize to the person who passed. Maybe the person who passed wanted to thank you personally. Either way, you should be honored to be a part of it.

I've never been religious or spiritual person, but I've recently started feeling that what I can only describe as evil exists in my world. Hopefully what you got to experience was the opposite of that.