Verified answer

yes the latter is more appropriate.

Was is the correct word. Your tenses have to match,as "I GOT goose bumps when I realized who she WAS." It would be wrong to say "I GOT goose bumps when I realized who she IS." Got is past tense,as is any word ending with 'ed'.

It depends on how u feel, if u feel like u wanna talk about them like they were still here, use is, was is correct from and english point of view, but its always best to talk about the deceased the way u feel like talking about them.

Refer to them in past tense.

the correct way of saying it would be 'was' but when actually saying it out loud does feel odd and disrespectful but nevertheless is the right way of saying it

technically it would be "was" but I read something awhile ago that mentioned that when police are interviewing friends/family of the newly deceased they will typically speak about the person as if they were still alive-in the present tense.

was is correct