I agree that it’s not quite grandma-safe but I’d like to know which distros you’re using that can’t even last a year.
Pin all their apps in favorites and they will persist through updates. Updates don't overwrite desktop shortcuts either (although like other os, a couple might be added that need to be removed). This might be more difficult in gnome, I wouldn't know since I am firmly in the kde camp.
To stay as up to date as possible, use the mozilla apt repo:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/install-firefox-linux#w...