It's funny, I guess I've always been surrounded by Trek that I didn't even think that other people may not know the canon, and this is coming from someone who didn't pay much attention to it until recently. I guess I've just always been a latent fan! XD
But as you said, a little research goes a long way. Especially since it's so easy to stumble upon the death scene from TWOK without even typing into google 'Spock dies.'