Neighbor had to be "unsealed" from her first husband to be sealed to her new husband.

My question then is this: Is the first husband out of luck when it comes to eternal salvation?

This happened ~20 years ago, but every since I left the church, I can't stop thinking about it. My neighbor (I'll call her Becky) was married in the temple to her first husband, but a year after their 2nd child was born, he passed away. A couple years later, Becky met and married another man, but this time it was just a civil marriage. They ended up having 4 more kids together and made the decision to be sealed together in the temple as a complete family unit.

At the time, I remember everyone being excited for the family, but I always wondered about the first husband. Becky had to be unsealed from her first husband to be sealed to her second, since the church only let's men be sealed to multiple women, not the other way around. So here you have a man who did everything right; lived his whole life as a member of the church, got married in the temple, had children in the covenant, etc. But now, after his death, his sealing ordinances were removed. He no longer has a wife for all of eternity. Through no fault of his own, he has been denied the highest tier of the celestial kingdom.

No shade on Becky. She's a great woman and husband #2 is a great man. But it must suck to be husband #1