IN MEMORY OF MICHAEL P. NAVOJOSKY - MARCH 20, 1944 - NOVEMBER 7, 2020
This Memorial Square comes to us from Judith in Ohio in honor and memory of her husband, Michael "Mike" P. Navojosky, who died of COVID-19. Judy writes: I was blessed to know Mike for 61 years. We had a strong marriage the last few years we were together. We could read each others minds. We were "soul mates." I am grateful for a Covid Memorial Quilt in memory to all lost loved ones due to COVID-19. About Mike: Mike spent 76 years on this earth, and he made people laugh for every single one of them. If his story or joke wasn't somehow enough to do the trick, his own infectious laugh would. There was nothing he wouldn't do to bring a smile on the face of those he cared about. For 56 years he held his most cherished titles: doting husband to his beloved wife Judy, father of three, grandfather (Poppi) to eight, and great grandfather of one. For 60 years he maintained a steadfast work ethic, taking pride in everything he did both professionally and personally. Life with him was an adventure. The majority of his greatest memories were made outdoors - snowmobiling when his kids were younger, boating and fishing in Ohio and Florida, motorcycling, and camping. At the age of 74 he conquered The Tail of the Dragon in Deals Gap with his wife on the back of his motorcycle. With 318 curves in 11 miles, it was the ride of their lives. Mike was the patriarch to his family. The void left without him is one that simply cannot ever be replaced, he is eternally loved and missed beyond measure. With his strength to guide us, we look forward to the day we can once again hear the sweet sound of his whistling, feel his warm embrace, and share in many more laughs together. We will honor and remember Mike on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF LILLIANTYNE "TYNA" FIELDS - OCTOBER 26, 1930 - APRIL 8, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Lilliantyne "Tyna" Fields who died on April 8, 2020. The human toll of the coronavirus pandemic is generally expressed in terms of people who've died from COVID-19. But beyond those infected are countless others whose deaths during and related to the pandemic are not reflected in the totals. From her obituary: Lilliantyne Fields, nicknamed Tyna, died April 8, 2020 of cardiac arrest at age 89. Tyna was born on October 26, 1930, in segregated El Reno, Oklahoma, to two sharecroppers. Though she had a "horribly rough" childhood, Tyna became the first in her family to graduate from high school when she received her diploma from Booker T. Washington High School, El Reno's only K-12 school for Black students at the time. Tyna went on to study biology at Langston University, now the only remaining historically Black college in Oklahoma. She graduated magna cum laude in 1955. In 1965, after her two children were born, Tyna earned a master's degree from Wichita State University in Kansas. She started teaching junior high school, becoming one of 4 Black teachers in Wichita Public Schools who were allowed to teach above elementary school age. "All her life, she embodied her belief that public education has to work for all students." When Tyna's health started to decline, she and her husband moved into an independent living facility in Seattle. "They just loved it. Their friends moved there, and they did water aerobics and bridge and went on walks. They were these little ladies, and just as active as can be...Which is why my mom's death is still very difficult for me," Laneyse said. Tyna was supposed to have a pacemaker put in at the end of March, 2020, to address her atrial fibrillation. But on the day of her surgery, the hospital - in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 - halted all elective surgeries and canceled her operation without rescheduling it. Two weeks later she died. We will honor and remember Tyna on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF ANN C. FORBES - 1945 - 2020
This Memorial Square comes to us from Suzzanne in New York in honor and memory of her mother, Ann C. Forbes, who died of COVID-19. Suzzanne writes: This square is in memory of my mom who passed away in May 2020 from the virus. My mom was only 75 and in a nursing home due to mobility issues. Despite the fact she had not left the facility in almost three years, and rarely left her room, the virus took her from us too soon. The day of her death, the total of American COVID deaths was 69, 921. Today (February 17, 2021) that number is 488,000+. There is no comfort in knowing my family and I are not alone; however, I am glad your project/initiative continues to get more attention. Your project is providing comfort for many of us, helping us to remember our loved ones during this challenging time, not just in our nation, but in the world. We will honor and remember Ann on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF BENNY ANORICO ARANAS - JANUARY 12, 1947 - APRIL 25, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Bennie Anorico Aranas who died of COVID-19 on April 25, 2020. From his obituary: When Bennie was being treated for COVID-19, video calls from his hospital bed were filled with more than 100 friends and family members. “At the end of the day, family needs to come together. You’re there for one another,” said Aranas’ oldest son, Byron, describing a family of 40-plus nieces and nephews. “And he truly was a family guy. Family first.”
When Aranas tested positive for the new coronavirus doctors asked his family if they’d like him to participate in their early clinical trials for Remdesivir, the first drug shown to be effective against COVID-19. Byron Aranas, 47, said he didn’t know if his father had been given the drug or a placebo during that trial, but in the first week, his condition started improving. Then, on the 11th day, his condition worsened. By the 12th day — April 25 — he was gone.
His family said the 73-year-old was born and raised in Taal, a city in the Philippines. He joined the Navy in 1968 at a U.S. base in the Philippine province of Cavite, his wife said. He wasn’t an American citizen at the time, but was allowed to live in the U.S. as part of the military, she said. Three years after he joined the Navy, he applied for U.S. citizenship, she said.
“He was the pioneer for all of us getting here,” Byron Aranas said, noting the many sacrifices his father made to better his family members’ lives. “He was the leader of the whole big family … His ultimate goal was to bring his whole family to the U.S.”
We will honor and remember Bennie on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF AMANDA PAULINE BOUFFIOUX - DECEMBER 26, 1975 - SEPT 8, 2020
This Memorial Square comes is to honor and remember Amanda Pauline Bouffioux who died of COVID-19 on Sept 8, 2020. From her obituary: When the coronavirus pandemic began, Amanda Bouffioux and her family stayed home. Bouffioux, an Inupiaq Alaska Native, worked as an administrative assistant for the Anchorage management services office of NANA, an Alaska Native corporation owned by more than 14,000 Inupiaq shareholders. During the week, she would go into the office only to pick up paperwork. The office reopened in the summer and she made sure to wear her mask. After a family day trip to the port city of Seward in mid-August, Bouffioux started to feel sick. Her partner, Scott Wells, insisted she go to a hospital, where she tested positive for the virus. She was sent home and isolated herself in their bedroom, away from their children, Chris, 8, and Terrisa, 9. He and the children had tested negative. When her condition worsened, Wells took her back to the hospital and this time, she was admitted. Several days later, on Aug. 19, she was intubated and put on a ventilator.
“She called the day they were going to intubate her,” Wells said in an interview. “I told her I loved her, not to worry about the kids, just work on getting better. That was the last time I talked to her.”
Bouffioux died Sept. 8 at a hospital in Anchorage. She was 44.
Amanda Pauline Bouffioux was born Dec. 26, 1975, in Kotzebue, a village above the Arctic Circle in northwest Alaska. Her birthparents gave her up for adoption to Edna and Norman Bouffioux. A fan of country singer George Jones, she sang in her high school choir and played the flute. Bouffioux was taking courses online at a Native community college, and had dreams of owning her own business.
“When she put her mind to something, she made things happen,” said her sister Clarissa Coffin. “She was so unselfish and just so good at taking care of people.”
We will honor and remember Amanda on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF BOBBY BEGAY - APRIL 24, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor of Bobby Begay, a Yakama tribal member & Celilo Village leader who died of COVID-19 on April 24, 2020. From his obituary:
The lead fish technician of the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission (CRITFC), Bobby Begay, a man who harassed sea lions to protect salmon in the Columbia River and who wasn’t afraid to plunge into the frigid waters of Willamette Falls to harvest lamprey the way his Yakama Nation ancestors have done for thousands of years, died April 26 from complications of the Corona virus. He was 51.
Mr. Begay, leader of the historic fishing village at Celilo Falls, was known for his dedication to his family, the Celilo community, salmon, the river, and tribal culture. In a memorial, CRITFC observed, “He was a bridgebuilder who connected many groups and individuals across cultural divides. His example of intertribal brotherhood embodied the hopes and values envisioned by tribal leaders from the Yakama, Umatilla, Warm Springs, and Nez Perce tribes when they came together to form CRITFC. He was an incredibly generous person and had a willingness to share not only his harvest, but the message of why salmon, lamprey, and the river are central to our culture. He did so for countless groups with enthusiasm and humor.”
A photo issued by CRITFC with its memorial shows Begay embracing a large Chinook salmon, a tender gesture that shows his respect for the fish.
We will honor and remember Bobby on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF ELLA LUHANY - APRIL 25, 1918 - JUNE 24, 2020
This Memorial Square comes to us from Joanne in Ohio in memory of her mother, Ella Luhaney, who died of COVID-19 on June 24, 2020. Joanne writes: I lost my Mom to the COVID-19 virus. She was 102 years young! I miss her and our adventures everyday. We will honor and remember Ella on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF COLLEEN STUBER - APRIL 21, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Colleen Stuber who died of COVID-19. From her obituary: Handmade beaded jewelry, barbecue-flavored meatloaf, knitted baby blankets and boureka pastries — these were just some of the ways in which Colleen Stuber showed her love for family and friends. Throughout her life, she loved to take care of people, and to share whatever she had. “She was a server by nature,” said her daughter, Sonja Garmanian, “always ready to lend a helping hand to anyone in need.”
A lifelong resident of the Seattle area, Stuber was born Colleen Kola Almo in Bremerton and graduated from Bremerton High School. At the time of her April 21 death from the novel coronavirus, at age 81, she was a resident of the Peters Creek Retirement & Assisted Living community in Redmond. Stuber had lived there for seven years and, her daughter said, adored the staff and residents, considering them her second family.
A woman who exuded positivity, Stuber spent her life joyfully caring for her family and for the many people she met along her adventurous career path. At heart, her daughter said, Stuber was an entrepreneur: As a divorced young mother in the mid-’70s, she transformed her love of cooking into a West Seattle restaurant, Hungry Man’s Café.
“She got a financial backer and did all the cooking and baking herself,” said Garmanian, recalling childhood memories of twirling on the stools at the cafe counter. It was, she said, an “old-fashioned, family-ish” kind of place — “really warm and inviting. People felt like they were coming to her home and eating in her living room.”
Hers was a life cut short too suddenly: Eisenhauer said sadly that Stuber had a bucket-list wish of going up in a hot-air balloon (appropriate for a woman who would end conversations with “I love you to the moon and back”), and that he had hoped to do that with her later this year. But it was one filled with boundless good cheer and love. Garmanian summed up her mother’s life philosophy with a lyric from an old Nat King Cole song.
“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return”
We will honor and remember Colleen on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF FRANK RICHARD LaRIVIERE - JUNE 18, 1927 - AUGUST 14, 2020
This Memorial Square is to honor and remember Frank Richard LeRiviere who died of COVID-19 on August 14, 2020. From his obituary:
Frank was raised in Long Beach, CA and Oakland, CA before the family settled in Seattle. During WW II he started coaching youth sports in Seattle while in high school. He graduated from Seattle Prep in 1946, enlisted in the Army and served in Korea. Upon his return from the service, Frank attended Seattle University, began his career as a US mail carrier and continued coaching youth sports in Seattle. His retirement from the Post Office at age 56 was to free up more time to engage with others and to pursue his various hobbies.
He was the designated family photographer all his life. Numerous beautiful photos depict his hikes and outdoor adventures, mostly in the Northwest, as well as every family event he attended during his long life. Love of photography was one of Frank’s many interests that he passed on to more than a few family members. Frank was an avid fisherman nearly year-round, in both freshwater and saltwater – particularly summer-run steelhead on the North Fork of the Skykomish River. He passed his love of fishing on to many family members as well. Canning is another skill that was taught to many by Frank; much time was spent in the summer canning many types of fruits, pickles, and jams.
One of his true passions was shopping and making purchases at Goodwill, Seattle. He amassed a 2,000-volume book collection, hundreds of cameras, various knick knacks and tools that filled up his house. He could hold a knowledgeable conversation on a host of topics – military history and tactics, Boeing airplanes, Pacific Northwest History, flora and fauna of the PNW, photography, salmon and steelhead fishing and many other subjects. Many an hour was spent visiting and talking with Frank at his house.
As Frank would say when closing out a phone conversation - “Cheers!”.
We will honor and remember Frank on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF CAROLA MONTERO - DECEMBER 6, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Carola Montero, who died of COVID-19 on December 6th, 2020. From her obituary: The family of a Milwaukie mother of four, who recently passed away due to COVID-19, says her death should be a wakeup call for others. Carola Montero was 46 years old. “I’m heartbroken,” said Montero’s daughter, Catalina Castillo, 21. “I would honestly say my mom was my best friend and I miss her every day.”
Carola leaves behind a husband in addition to her four kids who range in age from 11 to 23. “She was just beautiful in every way,” said Carola’s brother, Javier Montero. “Everyone who was lucky enough to meet her was able to find that out.”
Family said Montero was always cautious regarding COVID-19, especially because she had diabetes. “If she went out, she always wore a mask,” said Catalina. “She sanitized her hands.”
Despite those precautions, Carola and four other family members contracted COVID-19 around November 20. They’re still piecing together how they got it. Everyone except for Carola recovered. On December 1, doctors discovered blood clots in her small intestine which limited blood flow. Carola passed away in her sleep, December 6. Another life lost to the pandemic. “
IN MEMORY OF MARK GILLGAM - JUNE 14, 1956 - JUNE 19, 2021
This Memorial Square is to honor and remember Mark Gillgam who died of COVID-19. From his obituary: On June 19, 2021 Mark Gillgam succumbed to his battle with Covid. Mark was born June 14, 1956 in Portland, Oregon. Mark graduated from Marshal High School in 1975.
After high school Mark started a long career in sales. You may not realize this... any Portland area resident reading this, YOU have been touched by Mark, in an indirect, but inescapable way. If you dine in the Tri-Metropolitan area, you have probably been in a restaurant or bar whose equipment was outfitted by Roses Equipment, where Mark worked for decades; designing, planning, installing all the kitchens, bars, dining rooms. All the grills, French fryers, taps, tables, chairs, etc. All the things which make a restaurant or bar go, are thanks to Mark and his passion and dedication to his customers and restaurants.
This passion was only surpassed by his passion for being a family man and friend, Mark helped coach Arthur through many years of basketball where he is best remembered for reminding everyone to use the glass, even on the baseline. Mark had a true passion for life and brought joy to every room he entered. To know Mark was to know love whether he knew you for a minute or a lifetime he made you feel like family. Mark's journey in this life as we know it will never end for he continues to live on through the hearts of every single person that he has met and loved in his 65 years on this earth.
We will honor and remember Mark on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF TERRENCE "TERRY" BRIAN TANSKI - SEPT 25, 1956 - JUNE 18, 2021
This Memorial Square is to honor and remember Terrence "Terry" Tanski who died on June 18, 2021 after a valiant fight against Covid-19. From his obituary: Terry was born Sept. 25, 1956 in Toronto, Canada and grew up in New York before he moved to Portland, Oregon.
Terry was proud of his work for the City of Portland, first the Forestry Service and then the Water Bureau. He could tell you the Latin name for nearly every tree in Oregon. He loved music, the outdoors, fishing, camping, and hunting. He was planning many fishing trips in his upcoming retirement. He loved working out, had a collection of cookbooks, and was very health conscious. He set aside time every day for bible study as his faith was core to his being. He was a fan of old westerns and loved the TV series 'The Waltons'. He always wished for those simpler times.
We will honor and remember Terry on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF THOMAS BROOKS SUDDUTH - FEB 4, 1956 - DEC 7, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Thomas Brooks Sudduth who died of COVID-19. From his obituary: Thomas “Tommy” Brooks Sudduth, an islander whose well-known family has lived on Vashon since the 1920s, died on Dec. 7, 2020. He was 64 years old. His death, at the Seattle VA Hospital, was caused by acute respiratory distress syndrome with pneumonia and COVID-19 as a contributing factor.
With his death, Sudduth became Vashon’s first confirmed fatality linked to the coronavirus — a sad milestone that is also reported in this week’s Beachcomber on page 1, as part of Vashon’s Emergency Operations Center’s weekly situation report.
We will honor and remember Tommy on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF REMO MINATO - FEBRUARY 12, 1930 - OCTOBER 30, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and in memory of Remo Minato of Oregon who died of COVID-19. From his obituary: Remo Minato, 90, began his life in Room #1 of the San Remo Hotel in San Francisco on Feb.12, 1930. His parents, Anselmo and Maria Minato, Italian immigrants, had traveled by train from Chiloquin, a tiny Southern Oregon town, so Maria could have an Italian midwife at her bedside. She named her new son after the hotel.
Remo passed away at his home Oct. 30, 2020, of COVID-19 complications. He was a proud Oregonian and spent much of his life traveling its highways and back roads. He knew well its cities, small towns, mountains, parks, rivers and lakes, and passed on his love of Oregon’s natural treasures to his children.
Remo made friends wherever he went and never had a harsh word for anyone. He delighted in telling stories about his life, and loved to hear about other’s lives. He often told fascinating and detailed stories of the many well-designed roads he helped build on Native American reservations in five western states.
In the words of Leonardo Da Vinci, another great Italian, “Come una giornata ben spesa porta un sonno felice, così una vita ben vissuta dà una morte felice.” (As a day well spent brings happy sleep, so a life well lived gives happy death.)
Ci vediamo, Remo.
Buona notte.
We will honor and remember Remo on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF LYNN BRYAN - MARCH 14, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Lynn Bryan who died of COVID-19. From his obituary: Lynn Bryan didn’t show up to his regular card game one Sunday afternoon in early March. He didn’t answer the phone when his fellow players called. That worried longtime friend Mitchell Cromier. When Cromier went to check, he found Bryan at home in Southeast Portland, lightheaded and having trouble breathing. Twice Bryan fell to the floor.
“I told him don’t get up, don’t move,” Cromier said. He called 911. An ambulance arrived and took Bryan away. It was the last time Cromier would see Bryan, who on March 14 became the first person in Oregon to die from a known case of COVID-19.
A lifelong Oregonian, Bryan grew up in Newberg and served in the Army. He worked a number of jobs over the years, including stints as a mapmaker and city engineering technician. But he was a cowboy at heart. Dancing was his lifelong passion.
While the two-step was Bryan’s forte on the dance floor, he also dabbled in West Coast Swing and other styles. Women enjoyed partnering with him because of his skill and charm, his peers said. “If he had two loves in life they would be dancing and horses,” his daughter, Jennifer Bryan, told The Oregonian/OregonLive. “He was also a really good father.” He helped run Rock ‘N’ Rodeo, an iconic country-western club, when he lived in Eugene.
We will honor and remember Lynn on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF EARL EDWARDS - JULY 31, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Earl Edwards who died of COVID-19. From his obituary: Earl Edwards was a Jamaican farmer who in the winter grew ginger, garlic and other crops on his tropical island nation homeland in the Caribbean. For the past decade, he would head north each year for seasonal work at the Gebbers Farms in Washington’s arid Okanogan County.
This year, he did so amid a global coronavirus pandemic that sickened him and — on July 31 — took his life. His death is now part of an ongoing state investigation into conditions at Gebbers Farms labor camps.
The 63-year-old spent his final days in an isolation camp, talking several times a day to his wife, Marcia Smith Edwards. He told her he was weak and sick and hoped to return to Jamaica.
“He said, ‘I want to come home. … I am feeling like a fish out of water. … Nobody cares for us here,'” Marcia recalls.
Edwards’ widow is grieving, and she is angry. She says her husband should have been monitored more closely by a doctor or other trained medical professional at the isolation camp, and that Gebbers Farms should have offered him more support.
Edwards’ death due to COVID-19 complications — confirmed to The Seattle Times by the Okanogan County coroner — is the second coronavirus death of a guest worker employed at Gebbers Farm.
We will honor and remember Earl on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF KIM FORN LUEY - SEPT 11, 1941 - NOV 25, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and in memory Kim Forn Luey who died of COVID-19. From her obituary: Kim Forn Luey of Portland passed away at the age of 79 from complications due to COVID-19. She was born in Guangyang Village, Toisan, Guangdong, China, to Wing Jung and Poy King Lee.
The family immigrated to Portland in 1947, where Kim graduated from Franklin High School. She earned her BA in education from the University of Oregon in 1963, married her husband Jimmie in 1964 and raised four boys.
She worked nine years as a tour guide at Alpenrose Dairy starting in 1977 and then was a substitute teacher for the Beaverton school district for 19 years. Kim spent 4,300+ hours volunteering at the Lan Su Chinese Garden starting in 2000.
We will honor and remember Kim on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF DANIEL RIAN - MARCH 12, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Daniel Rian who died of COVID-19. From his obituary: Daniel Rian loved singing and performing, and spent a lifetime giving to others. “He was very gregarious and outgoing and loved life, and giving back was a huge part of his personality,” said son Mike Rian.
Rian worked at Boeing for 38 years, where he managed surplus in Kent, while also working as a volunteer firefighter and EMT lieutenant with the Kenmore Fire Department. He and his wife, Suzanne, were active in local theater. The couple was known as the “The Doo-Wops.”
Son Mike remembers hanging out as a kid at the police station, and the fire station, “where my dad was a lot.” “I remember him doing shift work around the clock (for the fire department) while he was doing his other job,” Mike Rian said. “That’s a hard thing to do and a pretty significant commitment.”
Some of Mike’s fondest recollections are when his father would pick up legendary Seattle clowns J.P. Patches and Gertrude for appearances in local parades. “Our vehicle was in the parades, which was an old Model A truck that converted into a fire truck,” said Mike Rian, who got to go along and, like his father, dressed up as a clown for the events.
“We were the total rebels of the parades. My dad and his buddies — all firefighters — were notorious for never going by what the parade person told them to do. ‘Here’s your slot in the parade.’ Nah. As soon as the parade started, we would just go up and down the entire parade, spraying people and throwing candy to the kids.”
Rian, who lived in Bothell, died March 12 from complications of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. He was 80.
We will honor and remember Daniel on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF ALL VICTIMS OF TRIBAL NATIONS IN OREGON
This Memorial Square comes to us from Joan in California in honor and memory of all the victims of COVID-19 in the tribal nations of Oregon. Oregon today is home to nine federally recognized tribal nations, plus several unrecognized tribes. These modern tribal governments each include members descending from multiple tribes and bands.
- Burns Paiute Tribe
- Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians
- Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon
- Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians
- Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
- Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs
- Coquille Indian Tribe
- Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians
- Klamath Tribes
We will honor and remember all the victims of the tribal nations of Oregon on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF JODY ANN WRIGHT - DEC 9, 1954 - JUNE 3, 2021
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Jody Ann Wright who died of COVID-19. From her obituary: Jody Ann Wright passed from Covid June 3, 2021, age 66. She is missed by her husband, Scott; children, Joel and Bethany; mother, Marlene; siblings, Carrie, Sally and Tom; and many more friends, family, and co-workers.
Jody grew up in Astoria and moved to the Portland area to become an RN for 32 years at Doernbecher. She was active in her church, volunteering as a greeter and camp nurse. Jody was best known for her nurturing nature, her faith, and her superb baking.
We will honor and remember Jody on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF MARCIA HAUG - MARCH 22, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Marcia Haug, who died of COVID-19. From her obituary: Marcia Haug -- a 90-year-old mother to three and grandmother to seven – traveled through Europe by bicycle when she was in her 20s, loved nature, made it a point never to miss a Rose Parade and “was a teacher through and through.”
Marica died on a Sunday after suddenly coming down with a fever and bad cough three days earlier. She hadn’t complained of any ailments that Thursday afternoon but began to show symptoms by nightfall. Staff at the assisted living center where she lived just west of Portland’s city limits called one of her daughters and asked how she wanted to proceed.
Daughter Cindy Madden summoned an ambulance and Marcia was taken to the hospital where medical gave her a COVID-19 test. It came back positive early Saturday morning and doctors told Marcia’s family that same day that they were switching gears to provide “comfort care.” The next day, Marcia died. Because of concerns about spreading the disease, Marcia's family wasn’t allowed at the hospital to say goodbye so medical staff arranged FaceTime. “I think mine was about two minutes,” her daughter said. “Nonetheless, it was priceless.”
Marcia grew up in Minneapolis. While enrolled at the University of Minnesota, she spent her summers waitressing at Yellowstone and Glacier national parks, which fed her love for nature. Right after graduating with a teaching degree, she moved to Oregon to spend her career as a Portland Public Schools teacher, including a long stint at Faubion School in Northeast Portland.
Her mom loved to travel -- “her first big adventure was a bicycle trip around Europe in her early twenties” -- and she encouraged her children and grandchildren to do the same, Madden said.
“My parents never missed a Portland Rose Parade. They would park the RV on the route and host the grandchildren overnight to save their spot. It was a rite of passage for the grandkids to be invited to stay the night. The night before always included fresh Oregon strawberry shortcake.”
We will honor and remember Marcia on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY
This Memorial Square comes to us from Anonymous in California. We received this Memorial Square with no letter inside. We have received anonymous Memorial Squares before and although we do not know the story behind this handmade Memorial Square, we do know there is a story behind every Memorial Square - behind each Memorial Square is a person, and behind that person is a family and loved ones left behind who have also been deeply affected by COVID-19. We will honor and remember them all on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF DR SHELDON SCHORE - MARCH 18, 1934 - AUGUST 2, 2020
This Memorial Square comes to us from Ilise in California in loving memory of Dr. Sheldon Schore of Nevada, who died of COVID-19. Ilise is making this Memorial Square on behalf of her sister and brother-in-law. Ilise has given us a shirt worn by Dr. Schore, which you see posted here. Ilise has asked us to use material from his shirt to make a Memorial Square and to add his name, dates of life and his favorite quote: "How did you get so beautiful?"
From his obituary:
Sheldon was born on March 18, 1934 in Detroit, MI to Sarah (nee Green) and Henry Schore and was a Las Vegas, Nevada resident for 25 years. Sheldon is preceded in death by his parents and his beloved wife, Karen Ruth Schore. He is survived by his daughter, Andrea Gordon (Richard); son, Neal Schore (Beth); and five grandchildren, Drake Gordon, Scarlett Gordon, Jordan Schore, Jared Schore, and Drew Schore.
We will honor and remember Dr. Schore on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF GENEVIEVE MARTINEZ - JANUARY 17, 1958 – JULY 22, 2020
This Memorial Square comes to us from Kaitlyn in honor and memory of her mother, Genevieve Martinez, a school nurse in Texas, who died of COVID-19.
"Nurse Martinez was an EXCEPTIONAL school nurse. She cared for the students as if they were her own children. She will be dearly missed." "I was a co-worker with nurse Genny at Barron school. She was the most caring person I have ever known. May God give the family the strength to deal with their loss. Prayers continue going your way. Will forever be missed." "She was a kind hearted woman who loved her family with all her heart. It was a pleasure to know her and know she is finally at peace."
We will honor and remember Genevieve on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF KACI LYNNE LOUX - DECEMBER 2, 2005 - MAY 22, 2021
This Memorial Square comes is in honor and memory of Kaci Loux of Colorado who died in May, 2021, at age 15 of the Delta variant of COVID-19. From an article: The family of 15-year-old Kaci Loux is remembering her silly and sweet personality.
She loved music and movies, and she was always taking selfies with her cat named Angel. She also enjoyed spending time with her mom, dad and two younger sisters.
"I’m still having a hard time on believing what happened, it feels like she’s just going to walk through the door and I’m going to see her but I know that’s not the case," said Shilynne Loux, the teen's mom.
Shilynne Loux said her daughter is the first reported COVID-19 related pediatric death in Mesa County, Colorado. The county previously sent out a release stating a female Mesa County resident age 10-19 died after testing positive for the delta variant.
According to Mesa County Public Heath, she was hospitalized before her age group was eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Cases of the delta variant are skyrocketing in several states, including Colorado and most of those cases are in Mesa County. The variant is believed to be more transmissible and as it spreads, health experts warn about the risk to young children who are not vaccinated. Shilynne said her youngest daughter got COVID-19 in April and it spread throughout the entire family, but only Kaci was hospitalized.
“It progressed pretty fast," Shilynne said. "She was complaining that she couldn't breathe.”
She said Kaci started running a high fever, and by the time she took her daughter to the doctor, Kaci's condition worsened. She was airlifted from Grand Junction to Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora. Kaci was in the ICU for more than three weeks, but Shilynne said at one point it seemed like her daughter was improving.
“I went with her and we're up there probably three and a half weeks and I see you and then they're getting ready to put her into recovery and then everything just went to hell, pretty much.“
Shilynne said her daughter went into cardiac arrest and passed away after nearly a month in the hospital. She has this message for other parents if they believe their child is getting sick.
“Don't wait, don't wait. Take him in ASAP because if you wait it gets 10 times worse and it will shut their lungs down fast.”
A 15-year-old girl with so much life ahead of her and a family that misses her dearly.
“She was so loved.”
We will honor and remember Kaci on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF DAVID R. GONZALES - NOVEMBER 11, 1958 - AUGUST 2, 2020
This Memorial Square comes to us from Jennifer in Texas in honor and memory of her father, David R. Gonzalez, who died of COVID-19. Jennifer writes:
IN MEMORY OF GERALDINE "JERRY" GORMLEY - AUGUST 2, 1923 - APRIL 11, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Geraldine "Jerry" Gormley of Washington, who died of COVID-19 on April 11, 2020. From an article sent:
Geraldine Gormley’s numerous adventures left behind a trail of memories and lifelong friends. Strong-willed, well dressed and outgoing, Gormley blazed a path from her hometown of Portland to Alaska and Germany before she landed in Edmonds.
Along the way, sometimes with a gin and tonic or good German white wine in hand, she raised three daughters and forged enduring friendships, and set an example for her children and grandchildren of the importance of taking risks and being attentive and compassionate to others.
Gormley, who lived at Edmonds Landing retirement and assisted living facility, died April 11 of COVID-19. Sunday would have been her 97th birthday.
Her adventures began when she became the first woman in her family to graduate from college, earning a degree in business and industry from Oregon State University in 1945. She took a job with the Department of Fish and Wildlife in Juneau, Alaska, and moved there sight unseen, knowing nobody.
Family lore says that while Gormley was renting a room at the Baranof Hotel in Juneau, she approached her future husband, Matt Gormley, at the hotel bar: “And what is your name?”
“She was not a shy girl,” said her daughter, Darlene Stanton.
The young couple took advantage of what Alaska offered — skiing, hunting and fishing.
Matt Gormley’s job pulled him away from their home on Douglas Island across the Gastineau Channel from Juneau for long stretches. In his absence, Geraldine Gormley and their three young daughters spent time at the beach and in the woods surrounding their house. They explored together even amid the extreme weather and earthquakes of Alaska — their mother somehow made it look easy, said daughter Patricia McGraw.
“She gave us a spirit of risk-taking balanced by self-restraint,” McGraw said. “We learned to live close to the edge.”
Gormley also taught business at the local community college, and every two years worked as a legislative assistant in Juneau, Alaska’s capital city.
She called her three children and four grandchildren nearly every week, sent letters and never missed a birthday.
During these regular conversations, Gormley always remembered every little detail about what was going on in the lives of her loved ones and was quick to give glowing updates about cousins, in-laws and friends, said granddaughter Andrea Stanton.
“She worked very hard to keep in touch with us and always remembered what we were up to, even the details of things I was working on or little things my kids were doing,” she said.
McGraw said the family called Gormley “the interrogator” because she subtly and easily pulled out whatever information she was after.
McGraw said her mother’s passing came as a shock, despite her age, because Gormley’s mother lived to be 104.
“We all planned on having her at least to 104 and, we hoped, longer,” she said. “I think we are all still stunned that she is gone.”
We will honor and remember Geraldine "Jerry" on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF RAMI SAMMAN - 1/25/1980 - 5/10/2020
This Memorial Square comes to us from Rima in New Jersey in honor and memory of her brother, Rami Samman, who died of COVID-19. Rima writes: I miss him dearly.
From an article: BELMAR, NJ — It may be the middle of winter, but a special display of love is blossoming on Belmar’s Third Avenue beach — a heart of seashells filled with memorial rocks bearing the names of loved ones lost to the coronavirus.
It all started after sunset on Monday, January 25 when Rima Samman invited the community through social media to join her on the beach — to celebrate what would have been her brother Rami’s 41st birthday.
On May 10, he succumbed to COVID-19, leaving Rima grief-stricken but determined to keep his memory alive in every way she could. And one of those ways was a birthday tribute on the beach. Through her Facebook page, she asked others to share in a “moment of unity and remembrance” and bring their memories of those who have died of the insidious virus.
Some 20 people gathered on that cold winter night for song and prayer — a display of compassion that truly touched Samman. “I felt humbled by the support from the community,” said the Belmar resident. “My brother was very giving, and this would have been his way as well.”
Since that evening, photos and videos of the tribute have warmed the hearts of hundreds on Facebook. And with each passing day, more and more memorial rocks are getting their place on the sand inside the heart of yellow-painted shells.
“I have 100 requests for rocks and another 55 unread messages,” said Samman while on the beach on January 27. She has spent the past several days talking and messaging with people who have lost family members and friends to COVID-19 and personalizing their rocks for the display.
“These are their grandmothers, sisters, husbands … It becomes more of a reality when they can talk about it,” she said. “For me, I’m glad I can be there. And it’s healing for me.”
While Samman plans on continuing to add to the memorial for the time being, people are welcome to bring their own hand-painted stones and make them part of the heart as well. In fact, so many individuals have done just that, the heart has filled up quickly — and a second one may soon be in the making.
“I’ll start looking for shells tomorrow,” she said, embracing the outpouring of compassion and caring during a difficult time for so many.
To celebrate Rami's life, watch this video: https://youtu.be/5_Aza7BUnys
We will honor and remember Rami on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF EARLA DAWN (RITZ) DIMITRIADIS - JANURY 16, 1954 - DECEMBER 5, 2020
This Memorial Square comes to us from Jennifer in Massachusetts in honor and memory of her mother, Earla Dawn (Ritz) Dimitriadis who died of COVID-19. Jennifer writes: My mom was born on January 16, 1954, in Goshen, NY. Not having the opportunity to graduate from high school, Earla persevered against all odds and went on to earn not only a bachelor’s degree but also obtain a master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Phoenix.
Earla worked for over 25 years with ROSCCO, a non-profit organization that works collaboratively with the Stamford Public Schools, where she earned the title of Operations Manager. Earla's passion for her life's work undoubtedly impacted the lives of many children in Stamford over the years. She was loved by her children, grandchildren, and community.
Earla was a gifted artist who possessed an unending stream of creativity, which she happily shared with the world. She crafted an original play that was performed at the Stamford Palace Theater and, later in life, went on to create her own business selling handcrafted jewelry.
My mother was a warrior. She was a survivor. She was fiercely kind. She was endlessly creative. She was self-taught in almost all her artistic ventures. She was beautiful. She was empathetic and compassionate. Let’s be honest; she was a badass. It is my mother's resiliency that allows me to be here today; you see, if we carry intergenerational trauma, then we also carry intergenerational wisdom and strength.
My mother was born into a world full of adversity. She never stopped believing in kindness despite having seen so much cruelness in her lifetime.
Earla caught COVID-19 from a family member that did not wear a mask. She spent the last two weeks of her life hospitalized in pain, alone, and barely able to breathe.
We will honor and remember Earla on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF MANUEL JUAREZ - 5/30/1942 - 4/29/2021
This Memorial Square comes to us from Nora in California in honor and memory of her father, Manuel Juarez, who died of COVID-19. Nora writes: I want to start off by saying Thank you for keeping our loved ones remembered. I have felt the same way, that they are not just numbers. They are people who we loved. I would like to have a square made for my father. He and my father-in-law passed away on the same day due to COVID-19.
IN MEMORY OF AEDAN SELPH - Age 12, DIED NOVEMBER, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Aedan Selph of New Mexico who died of COVID-19 at the age of 12 years old. From an article:
When Aedan Selph was 7 months old, he and his twin sister were taken out of the custody of the state’s Children, Youth and Families Department and brought into a large, loving family living on Albuquerque’s West Side.
Aedan had been born premature and was deprived of oxygen early on, causing his brain to swell and a host of other medical problems.
But, his older sister Evelyn Wolfe said, even though he couldn’t walk and he verbalized in different ways, he was the happiest little boy. He and his twin were the babies of the family.
“He laughed like nobody ever knew in the world,” Wolfe said, speaking on behalf of the family. “Like he would laugh and smile and that’s why I say, literally, he would just light up a room.”
Tuesday morning, at 12 years old, Aedan became the youngest New Mexican to succumb to COVID-19. There have been 1,302 deaths from the illness statewide.
Wolfe said she had been working from home and the family had been in strict lockdown but Aedan’s father – who is considered essential and works at a store – must have come into contact with someone at his job who had the virus. She said he and Aedan started feeling bad on Nov. 15 and by that afternoon they were in hospitals on both sides of town.
Aedan’s 66-year-old father remains in the Intensive Care Unit and is on oxygen, she said, and all together five members of the household tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The rest are in quarantine awaiting test results.
“My brother was special needs but this can happen to anybody…,” Wolfe said. “I just want people to realize how important it is to use the precautions. My dad, being an essential worker, he unknowingly brought it home because with his job he dealt with people. And a lot of people don’t take it as seriously as it needs to be taken – and it needs to be taken seriously.”
The way Wolfe, 31, describes it, the household is like “one happy Partridge family” with eight foster children adopted over the years, many of whom have medical conditions. She said COVID hit like a whirlwind. On Saturday, Aedan and his father were fine. But by Sunday morning they were both weak and Aedan was having seizures. His mother called an ambulance for them both.
“He went in and they told us ‘he seemed to be doing a little bit better, you know, we’re going to keep him for observation for 10 days because he is medically fragile and everything,'” Wolfe said. “And then literally out of nowhere, my mom called me and told me, ‘Hey, you need to come to the house. They told us he’s probably not going to make it.’ ”
The news was devastating. Wolfe said her little brother’s left lung had completely collapsed and he was only able to use his right one. The family was given the option of keeping him on life support forever or making him comfortable and letting him go.
After much thought, they chose the latter option.
Wolfe said she and Aedan’s mother went to Presbyterian Hospital and – clad in protective equipment – they were able to visit Aedan for about an hour. The nurses were making him comfortable, removing the medical tubes delivering plasma antibodies to his body, and preparing for the worst when they left.
“And as we were walking out of the elevators to go home somebody came running down telling us, ‘Hey, he’s not going to make it,’ ” Wolfe said. “And me and my mom ran back upstairs and my mom was like, ‘You’ll get dressed faster than I will.’ ”
So Wolfe hurriedly got dressed – donning a protective gown, shield, gloves and mask – and entered the room.
“I went in there and said a prayer over him and held his hand in my hand while he took his last breath…,” she said, choking up. “I just didn’t want him to be alone. I knew it was coming. I just couldn’t let my little brother be alone. Nobody should be alone when that happens.”
We will honor and remember Aedan on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF PAUL BLACKWELL & ROSEMARY BLACKWELL - DECEMBER 13, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Paul and Rosemary Blackwell of Texas, who died within minutes of each other of COVID-19. From an article:
A Texas couple married for 30 years who were hospitalized with Covid-19 were holding hands as they both died on Sunday, their family says.
Paul Blackwell, 61, and Rosemary Blackwell, 65 — longtime educators of Grand Prairie Independent School District — died just minutes apart at Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, two of their sons told NBC News.
The couple contracted the virus nearly a week before Thanksgiving. “It really took a toll on them pretty quickly,” son Shawn Blackwell said of his parents after they began exhibiting symptoms.
He said his mother was having shortness of breath at night and wasn’t sleeping. His father laid on the couch for four days. Their deteriorating conditions forced them to miss Thanksgiving with their children for the first time.
“There’s not been one Thanksgiving we’ve never spent together,” son Brandon Blackwell said. The Friday after the holiday the couple was admitted to the hospital, where they’d spend the next few weeks fighting for their lives.
“It was hard to have them in the hospital,” Shawn Blackwell said.
The brothers weren’t able to physically see their parents and were only able to video chat with them. Their father broke down on one of those video calls, saying he didn't think he was going to make it.
“Their spirits were not too high during their hospital stay," Brandon Blackwell said. "But just us being there, I know, gave them some type of comfort. I was just glad they were able to see our faces.”
It was shortly after video calls with their children that the Blackwells were transferred to the intensive care unit.
“My little brother Shawn got to speak with my mom right before she got intubated and I was able to speak with my dad right before he got intubated, so it was crazy how that worked out,” Brandon Blackwell said.
The next time the sons would see their parents would be on their deathbeds.
“My dad wasn’t going to make it too much longer and my mom was right behind him,” Shawn Blackwell said. After consulting the doctors, the family made the difficult decision discontinue their life support.
Paul and Rosemary Blackwell died holding each other's hands — and the hands of Shawn and Brandon Blackwell, finally able to see their parents in person.
We will honor and remember Paul and Rosemary on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF JAMEELA DIRREAN-EMONI BARBER - MAY 21, 2002 - APRIL 25, 2020, 17 YEARS OLD
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Jameela Dirrean-Emoni Barber, 17, who died of COVID-19. From an article:
Jameela had big plans. She was a junior at Lancaster High School, a member of the JROTC, a national honor society inductee and her mom said she participated on the yearbook committee.
"From the day she was born, she was nurturing," said Jakena Barber-Brown, Jameela's mother.
“She was a special gift from God, this is a very, very tough loss. She had so much going on for her, her future was bright, so it’s terrible.”
The teen was set to graduate in 2021 and her goal was to attend college at Prairie View A&M. She wanted to become an interior design architect, but instead of planning for her future, Jameela's family is planning for her funeral.
The 17-year-old tested positive for the coronavirus two weeks ago according to her mother. So did Jameela's step-father and her older sister, who works in the medical field. Barber-Brown said her 28-year-old daughter who lives with them, was exposed to a patient.
"All of a sudden she got ill, fever, achy body, vomiting, stomach problems, diarrhea, the symptoms hit her within two day period time span," Barber-Brown explained about Jameela. She was experiencing the worst pain.
"She said it was a stabbing pain, an excruciating stabbing pain," Barber-Brown said.
The mother of three took Jameela to the emergency room on Wednesday, April 22. She said after doctors ran several tests, they gave her medicine and sent her home.
Three days later, on Saturday March 25, the day started off as usual.
"I fed her breakfast, gave her something to eat, gave her her pills," Barber-Brown recalls. "We were all just lounging around and she wanted to go take a shower, and the water kept running."
Barber-Brown knew something wasn't right.
“I had my oldest daughter (go), because they were quarantined on that side of the house, I had her go and check on her and that’s when we had to go call 911," Barber-Brown explained.
Jameela was not responsive.
“It’s a nightmare, that’s what’s causing me not to be able to sleep at night is to see my baby’s lifeless body laying there, I didn’t know what to do we performed CPR, we called 911," she said. “I kept telling the 911 operator, she’s not breathing, she needs the respirator, she needs the machine to breath, they came with no equipment.”
She said EMS performed CPR on her daughter, placed her in the ambulance and took her to the hospital. Barber-Brown was only allowed inside because her daughter was a minor. After waiting, a doctor told her, Jameela didn't make it.
"I had already prayed to God because just as a mother seeing her baby’s face, I could already tell something wasn’t, right, so I was already prepared for those words," Barber-Brown said. "When they came to me, I just called out to God. I think I was just numb."
She said her daughter was never sick before and didn't have any other health issues, which is why she was surprised to hear what medical professionals told her contributed to Jameela's death.
"The medical examiner actually said it was due to blood clots and liver failure, which makes no sense, she didn’t have any underlying conditions," Barber-Brown stated. "If it’s blood clots and they’re saying liver failure, all that should have been caught."
As doctors and scientists continue to learn more about the novel coronavirus, Barber-Brown hope's her family's loss serves as a reminder for people to take the virus seriously.
"If you just have to get out , I suggest that you don’t. If you have to get out, I suggest that you be very, very cautious," said said.
IN MEMORY OF TAGAN DRONE - APRIL 21, 2015 - OCTOBER 30, 2020 (age 5)
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Tagan Ja'Nae Marie Drone who died of COVID-19 at the age of 5 on October 30, 2020.
Tagan had the brightest smile and the charisma to match her beautiful personality. She enjoyed Peppa Pig, PJ Masks, make up and every LoL Doll. She attended Coronado Elementary School where she had just begun kindergarten.
She is proceeded in death by her grandfather; Anthony White, great grandmother; Ellen Hancock, younger brother; Ceasar Joseph Walker Drone, grandmother; Jackie Sanders, and great great grandmother; Beulah Turner.
She is survived by her parents; Lastassija White & Quincy Drone, one sister; Ana’Liyah Walker Drone, grandmother; Tavia Hancock, great grandmother; Connie Sanders, great grandfather; Roy Sanders, grandfather; Christopher Drone, great aunts; Tonia & Chalanda Sanders, aunts; Latosha Sanders, India Dickson and Lorraine Price, uncles; Travon Cleveland & Allen Bates, and Aundre White, a few special cousins who were her true best friends and a host of other family.
We will honor and remember Tagan on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF ANTHONY FADDIS - 10/08/1966 - 04/29/2021
This Memorial Square comes to us from Bianca in honor and memory of her father, Anthony Faddis, who died of COVID-19. Bianca writes: I recently lost my father due to COVID and thought it would be beautiful for him to be honored in this way and not just in my home. I would like for a square to be created for my dad. Attached is a photo of him and below is a little bit about who he is and all the things he enjoyed/loved.
IN MEMORY OF CARLOS ANAYA - NOVEMBER 13, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Carlos Anaya of Washington who died of COVID-19. From an article:
Carlos Anaya, a former press operator at The Astorian, died Friday after being hospitalized for the coronavirus.
Friends of Anaya, 62, said he was moved from Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver, Washington, in early November, where he was on a ventilator.
Clatsop County declined to confirm that Anaya was the county’s first death from the virus, but friends who were notified of his death believe he fits the description.
Anaya spent more than 20 years working as a journeyman pressman in California and RR Donnelley in Portland before moving to Astoria, where he spent 14 years at The Astorian. He retired in January 2019.
“Carlos enjoyed what he referred to as ‘junking,’ visiting antique stores and thrift stores, finding little treasures for his friends and fellow employees,” Bruijn said in an email. “Carlos and I shared interest in Formula One auto racing. He would often bring me items he found at ‘junk stores’ related to automobilia and racing.
“He did this for all of his friends as well.”
Anaya’s friends remember him as kind, loyal and a mentor.
Constance Wacha said she was struck and inspired by how Anaya survived the loss of his wife, Carol Little, in 2016 by “leaning in and becoming a humble friend and mentor.”
“Their deep love and support of our community aided him, and he in return held us up and aided us,” Wacha said. “He was strong and sweet.”
“He was the wisest person I’ve ever known, a loving and caring person with a huge heart that would drop everything to help you ... his spirit will live on until the end."
IN MEMORY OF CHAD ALLEN FRANK - JANUARY 16, 1990 - NOVEMBER 13, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Chad Allen Frank of Oregon who died of COVID-19 at age 30. From an article:
His name was Chad Allen Frank. He was 30 years old. And he had no pre-existing health conditions. The Lane County man died of COVID-19 at home on November 13th.
Frank loved gardening, fishing and camping. He had a goofy sense of humor and was fun to be around. His father was his best friend.
And the family suffered a different kind of tragedy four years ago this month. Frank’s 19-year-old sister, Jessica, was murdered in November 2016 in Eugene by a man she met online.
From another article sent:
Chad Allen Frank was a beloved son, grandson, brother and father. He was born January 16, 1990 to Richard Frank and Jennifer Winn Phillips. He passed away at home on November 13, 2020 from Covid-19. He did not have any preexisting health conditions.
Chad will always be remembered for his kind and loving nature and generous heart. Chad always had a goofy sense of humor and was so much fun to be around. He loved all people and animals. Chad loved gardening, fishing, camping and boating. He enjoyed spending time with his family. He was especially close to his father, who was his best friend. We will love you and miss you very much Chad!! You were such a bright, shining star in all our lives.
We will honor and remember Chad on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN THANKS TO THE DELIVERY DRIVERS
This Memorial Square was made by Joan from England in honor and thanks to the Delivery Drivers during Covid-19. "Thank you for working so hard during the pandemic to deliver so many essentials we needed. Because of you we were able to stay home and help flatten the curve."
We are grateful to all the delivery drivers and will remember them on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF LOY DAVID TAYLOR - APRIL 14, 1937 - APRIL 29, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Loy David Taylor who died of COVID-19. Loy David Taylor passed away on April 29, 2020, due to complications associated with COVID-19.
Loy was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho, on April 14, 1937, to Persis Arvella Young and Ralph Meredith Taylor. Loy was Ralph and Percy's third child and grew up in Iona, Idaho. Growing up, Loy loved sports-especially basketball-and learned the value of hard work and integrity from his wonderful parents. Loy graduated from Bonneville High School and later served an LDS mission in the Eastern States Mission. Loy also joined the United States Army and received an honorable discharge.
Loy married Anita Jakobsson, and they were blessed with six children. Loy received a Master's degree from Brigham Young University and worked for several years as a seminary teacher for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in both Rexburg and Blackfoot, Idaho.
Loy married Jean Hardy in 2008. They loved traveling and serving as missionaries. Their most recent mission concluded in 2019 at the Martin's Cove Visitor Center in Wyoming. Loy loved his Savior, Jesus Christ, his family, reading, western shows, popcorn, friends, giving to others, and family preparedness.
The Taylor family wants to thank the incredible staff of doctors and nurses at St. Luke's Meridian Medical Center for their professionalism and compassion they showed toward our dad and husband.
We will honor and remember Loy on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF JANE JOY JESSUP SOMMERS - 1956 - 2020
This Memorial Square comes to us from Caroline in Illinois in honor and memory of her mother, Jane Joy Jessup Sommers, who died of COVID-19. Caroline writes: Enclosed is a quilt square for my mom, Jane Joy Jessup Sommers. Thank you for creating this opportunity to celebrate and remember her. She was extremely "Covid cautious" as 4 months prior to her passing I had a baby, her first grandchild. More importantly, I want to remember her gigantic heart, kind spirit, and total love of sailing. This square uses fabrics from throughout our lives. I made a second copy that I've hung by her urn. Thank you for this - it has been a helpful project for me as I navigate this impossible grief.
We will honor and remember Jane on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF THE UNLAUDED HEALTH CARE STAFF WHO DIED
This Memorial Square was made by Kathy from Massachusetts in honor and memory to the Unlauded Health Care Staff who died of Covid-19. Kathy writes: You have my admiration for having created this extraordinarily important Covid Memorial Quilt. As a retired nurse, spouse of a physician, and mother of a physician and nurse practitioner, I have been deeply, deeply troubled by the lack of concern and acknowledgment of the risk and sacrifice health care and other essential workers have endured during the pandemic.
My Memorial Square honors health care staff who have died from the virus, so often due to inadequate protection in their workplace. May your work inspire our leaders to honor the thousands of people who have died while serving the sick, and the hundreds of thousands of others in this country who have lost their lives to Covid, and the millions across the world.
We will honor and remember all the Health Care Staff on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF JOHNNY MARTIN SMITH - JULY 13, 1944 - JANUARY 25, 2021
This Memorial Square comes to us from Christine in Texas and is in honor and memory of her father-in-law, Johnny Martin Smith, who died of COVID-19. Christine writers: I would very much appreciate a Memorial Square on the Covid Memorial Quilt created to honor Johnny Martin Smith. My father-in-law was one of the 614,000 plus victims of COVID-19. He was an avid auto enthusiast - anything Chevrolet, but especially 1950s and earlier models. He was married to my mother-in-law, Grayce, for almost 56 years (their anniversary would have been in February of this year.) He had two sons, my husband Kenneth and his brother, Glenn, and two grandchildren, my daughter, Ayden, and my nephew, Nicolaus. I have attached a photo of my father-in-law from last summer when we celebrated his last birthday.
We will honor and remember Johnny on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF NICHOLAS CORDERO -SEPTEMBER 17, 1978 - JULY 5, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Nicholas Cordero who died of COVID-19 on July 5, 2020. From the New York Times:
Nick Cordero, Nominated for Tony as Tap-Dancing Tough Guy, Dies at 41
The Broadway actor’s battle with the coronavirus was followed closely by many as his wife chronicled his experience on social media.
Nick Cordero, a musical theater actor whose imposing height — 6 feet 5 inches — and effortless charm brought him a series of tough-guy roles on Broadway, died on Sunday in Los Angeles. He was 41.
His death, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, was announced on Instagram by his wife, Amanda Kloots. She did not cite a cause, but he had been in the hospital for three months after contracting the coronavirus. The couple moved from New York to Los Angeles last year.
Mr. Cordero’s experience with the virus, which included weeks in a medically induced coma and the amputation of his right leg, was chronicled by Ms. Kloots on Instagram.
Mr. Cordero’s big break came in 2014, when he played Cheech, a gangster with a fondness for theater and a talent for tap in a musical adaptation of Woody Allen’s 1994 film “Bullets Over Broadway.” The role earned him a Tony nomination for best performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical. (James Monroe Iglehart won for “Aladdin.”)
“Mr. Cordero never pushes for effect, even when he’s leading a homicidal dance number to ‘’Tain’t Nobody’s Biz-ness if I Do,’” Ben Brantley wrote in his review in The New York Times. “And somehow, this dopey, mass-murdering thug and the actor playing him stand out as being far more endearingly earnest than anybody else.”
He went on to play the abusive husband of the title character in “Waitress” and a mentoring mobster in “A Bronx Tale.”
“The terrific Mr. Cordero radiates a cool charisma that mixes a surface geniality with shrugging ruthlessness” in “A Bronx Tale,” Charles Isherwood wrote in his Times review.
Mr. Cordero fell ill on March 20 with what was initially diagnosed as pneumonia and later as Covid-19, Ms. Kloots said in her Instagram posts. He was kept alive for weeks, she said, through the use of a ventilator, dialysis and a specialized heart-lung bypass machine; he endured brief heart stoppage, minor heart attacks and sepsis, Ms. Kloots said, as well as the leg amputation and a tracheotomy.
As he remained unresponsive, she began daily playing a song that he had written, “Live Your Life,” and encouraging others to do so as well. Many people joined in online, sharing videos of themselves singing and dancing as they tried to encourage his recovery with the hashtag #WakeUpNick.
We will honor and remember Nicholas on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF SPIDER "RAUN" BOARDMAN - APRIL 1959 - MAY 24, 2021
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Spider (Raun) Boardman (62) died Monday, May 24, 2021, of heart failure and pneumonia caused by complications of COVID-19, in Nashua, N.H.
Born in Medford, Ore., attended Medford High, University of Oregon.
He was hired by Digital without a degree, because he fixed some bugs in their magnetic tape drivers. Spider started in their TOPS-10 group. He worked on several OS’s, including UNIX and Perl. He worked on the Alpha project and with the Itanium Collaboration.
Spider got his name while rock climbing in Oregon. He loved gaming, online and tabletop. Known for his brilliant, software engineering and mathematical mind. Spider held several patents pertaining to his work in computer technology.
We will honor and remember Spider on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF WILFORD & MARY KEPLER - BOTH DIED APRIL 18, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Mary and Wilford Kepler, who were married 74 years, contracted COVID-19 and died just hours apart.
Mike Kepler, the oldest of Wauwatosa couple Mary and Wilford Kepler's three children, smiled when he talked about his parents on a sunny afternoon in July.
Mike said that Wilford, 94, was more reserved, but loved a good corny joke. "We always groaned at most of his jokes," Mike said. "But he liked telling them and enjoyed getting the reaction." Mary, 92, was the outgoing one — she loved to dance and had what her son called "spark."
"If we were at a wedding and friends of mine were sitting around, she'd go up and ask them to dance," Mike said. "And if she wouldn't get a dance from one of the people, she'd make sure that next person down would be asked to dance. So she liked to be out there on the dance floor."
When Wilford was 18, he was drafted into the Navy to fight in World War II. Mike said his dad served as a pharmacist's mate, going all over the Pacific Ocean to treat soldiers who were wounded. In the Battle of Okinawa, Wilford treated a sailor whose ship had been hit by kamikaze planes.
"I know he stayed up with one of the sailors coming off that ship who had been badly injured," Mike said. "He stayed up with the guy all night just making sure that he knew that somebody was there for him."
That’s also when he started talking to Mary, who was a cheerleader at her high school in Richland Center, according to Mike. Mary started writing letters to Wilford. "Then when he came back from the war I think he probably made a beeline to her door," said Mike. The two got married in 1946, and had three children.
Wilford and Mary started feeling sick in April. A few weeks into feeling sick, Mary got tested for COVID-19, and soon learned she had the virus.
In mid-April Wilford fell, injuring his head. Both Wilford and Mary were admitted to a local hospital where Wilford tested positive for the virus. His conditioned worsened and eventually hospital staff moved Wilford and Mary so that they could be in the same room.
"After a day or two in the ICU unit, they moved him to the same ward that my mother was in," Mike said. "They moved them into the same room, and they moved their beds together ... We were very happy with that."
Wilford died due to his head injuries early in the morning of April 18. Mary died from coronavirus complications just hours later. Wilford and Mary Kepler spent their final moments together just feet apart at Froedtert Hospital. They died April 18. Wilford Kepler, 94, died first. Mary Kepler, 92, died six hours later.
We will honor and remember Wilford and Mary on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF ELISA HIGGINS - MAY 10, 2020
This Memorial Square comes to us from Amanda in Massachusetts in honor and memory of Elisa M. Higgins who died of COVID-19 on May 10, 2020. Amanda writes: I am sending you this quilt block on behalf of my daughter and some colleagues. My daughter's teaching partner is Elisa's daughter, Nikita. I thought I would send along a copy of her obituary so you would have more information about her. Thank you so much for doing these quilts in memory of those we have lost.
From Elisa's obituary: Elisa M. Higgins (DaRosa), age 64 of New Bedford passed away on May 10, 2020 at the Miriam Hospital in Providence due to complications related to Covid-19. She was born in Faial, Acores. She was the daughter of the late Jose and Rosa (DaSilva) DaRosa. She moved with her family to Taunton at the age of eleven. She was a longtime resident of Taunton. Elisa worked as a secretary at F.B Rogers, a recess aide at Martin School, and a material handler at Swanks. Elisa lived for spending time with family and friends. She loved the beach and soaking every minute she could in the sun. She enjoyed cooking and sharing recipes and food with loved ones. She was also a forever lover of Elvis Presley. Elisa was a spitfire, woman of strength, great humor and energy which made everyone love her. Elisa will be remembered for her contagious smile, laugh, and purple hair.
Survivors include her companion, John Barr of Pawtucket. Elisa is survived by her two children, Jason Jorge and his wife Faith of Taunton, and her daughter Nikita Higgins and her wife Jenn of New Bedford. Also, the beloved Vovo of four grandchildren Jared, Macey, Dominic, and Darian, and several nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great- nephews. She was also the sister of the late Roland DaRosa and Berta Lang.
We will honor and remember Elisa on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
CALIFORNIA THANKS ESSENTIAL WORKERS
This Memorial Square was made by Joan from California in honor and thanks to the Essential Workers of California. On March 19, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-33-20 directing all residents immediately to heed current State public health directives to stay home, except as needed to maintain continuity of operations of essential critical infrastructure sectors and additional sectors as the State Public Health Officer may designate as critical to protect health and well-being of all Californians.
In accordance with this order, the State Public Health Officer has designated the following list of Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers to help state, local, tribal, and industry partners as they work to protect communities, while ensuring continuity of functions critical to public health and safety, as well as economic and national security. These sectors were deemed "essential":
1. Health Care / Public Health
2. Emergency Services
3. Food and Agriculture
9. Critical Manufacturing
IN MEMORY OF ROY HORN - OCTOBER 3, 1944 - MAY 8, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Roy Horn who died of COVID-19.
Roy Horn was an internationally renowned illusionist whose duo with Siegfried Fischbacher, famed for sharing the stage with lions and tigers, was the most popular show in Las Vegas for more than a decade.
Roy met Siegfried when they were both working aboard a cruise ship in 1957. Siegfried was an aspiring magician and Roy had a lifelong fascination with animals. They combined their interests and developed a nightclub act that incorporated magic and exotic animals. They made it to Las Vegas in 1967 as a specialty act in a variety show. They appeared in a number of different shows throughout the 1970s and by the 1980s they made the leap to headliners.
The Mirage hotel and casino built a special 5,000-seat theater for Siegfried and Roy. In 1990 the show debuted with the first an eventual 5,750 performances. The glitzy show became synonymous with Las Vegas and paved the way for magicians like Penn & Teller to become Las Vegas headliners.
On October 3, 2003 Horn was attacked by his tiger, Mantecore, during a performance and dragged off-stage. His injuries were severe, and the incident effectively ended the Siegfried & Roy stage show. Roy insisted Mantecore didn’t attack him, but rather saved him by dragging him backstage after he suffered a stroke. He requested that no harm come to the tiger.
Whatever the order of events, Roy did suffer a stroke and spent the rest of his life rehabilitating from his injuries at the six-acre Jungle Palace compound near Las Vegas. There he was surrounded by his menagerie of exotic animals and frequently visited by Siegfried.
Roy died at the age of 75 from complications of COVID-19.
We will honor and remember Roy on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF ANN SULLIVAN - APRIL 10, 1929 - APRIL 13, 2020
This Memorial Square comes to us from Simon, a professional animator in California, in honor and memory of Ann Sullivan who died of COVID-19. From NY Times: Ann Sullivan, Animator of Disney Hits, Dies at 91. She contributed to modern favorites like “The Little Mermaid” and “The Lion King.” She succumbed to complications of Covid-19.
Ann Sullivan, who applied her refined brush and palette as an animator to latter-day Disney classics like “The Little Mermaid,” “The Lion King” and “Lilo & Stitch,” died on April 13 at the Motion Picture and Television Fund retirement home in Woodland Hills, Calif. She was 91.
Her daughter Shannon Jay said the cause was Covid-19.
Ms. Sullivan was the third of four people at the home who have died from the coronavirus, according to a fund representative. More than 7,000 people have died of the disease in care facilities around the United States.
Ms. Sullivan began bringing cartoons to life at Walt Disney’s animation studios in the 1950s, working on films like “Peter Pan” (1953) before giving up her job to care for her children. She returned to animation in 1973, first working for Hanna-Barbera and later rejoined Disney. She worked on Disney films like “Oliver & Company” (1988), “Pocahontas” (1995) and “Hercules” (1997) as well as films released by other studios, like “Cool World” (1992) and “The Pagemaster”(1994).
Ms. Sullivan, an avid painter, taught art to neighborhood children near the family’s home in La Mirada, in Los Angeles County, and was a member of the Malibu Art Association, her daughter Shannon said.
Among the subjects Ms. Sullivan tackled were landscapes of the California coastline, portraits of family members and Jimi Hendrix, and a semiabstract rendition of the Disney characters Goofy and Daisy Duck, which hung in her bedroom.
We will honor and remember Ann on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF MARYLOU ARMER - MARCH 31, 2020
IN MEMORY OF ALICE COOPERSMITH FURST - SEPTEMBER 6, 1932 - APRIL 4, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Alice Coopersmith Furst who died of COVID-19. Looking back on the life of Alice Coopersmith Furst, it's a wonder anyone ever got a clear photograph of her. Furst was a woman in constant motion, right up until her later years living in a North Bay senior community.
"One of her friends there called her, 'The Tiny Tornado,'" said her son, Mark Coopersmith. Coopersmith and his son, Matt, always marveled at the way the mother of three and grandmother of six attacked each and every day.
"She was always moving," Matt Coopersmith said. "She never stopped for anything or anyone." That, it should be noted, included barriers. As a physician's daughter growing up in New York City, Furst was part of the first class of girls to attend the Bronx High School of Science and among the first Jewish students to be admitted to Tufts University.
Furst spent her career as a speech therapist, often working with developmentally challenged students. Education, though, was more than just her profession. "Education was very important to her and it's what she stressed to us as kids," Coopersmith said.
Coopersmith, a professor at UC Berkeley said nothing made his mother happier than hearing about the academic accomplishments of her children and grandchildren. Just below that, was her love of music, travel, and cooking. Although Coopersmith said, Furst's enthusiasm could sometimes outpace her talents.
This is going to sound terrible, but she thought she was a better cook than she was," Coopersmith said with a laugh. "At the Passover seder, she would always bring out her matzo balls but they were so hard and rubbery, still we ate them all because she was so proud of them."
Coopersmith says he takes comfort these days knowing his mother's battle with COVID-19 was brief and peaceful as well as the fact his daughter, one of those grandchildren whose education Furst championed, is now a microbial scientist working on the testing and treatment of infectious diseases.
We will honor and remember Alice on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF ROSCOE "SCOOTER" TAYLOR, III - APRIL 16, 1976 - APRIL 5, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Roscoe "Scooter" Taylor, III, who died of COVID-19. Father and son with shared name and love of laughter died days apart of coronavirus. A strong sense of integrity, and a vibrant sense of humor. Those were two of the many qualities shared by Roscoe Taylor Jr. and Roscoe Taylor III, an Indianapolis father and son who also shared a name.
The elder Taylor was known by friends and family as Scoby, while the younger went by Scooter. The Taylor men earned reputations as being the kind of men who always kept their word. The kind of men who finished what they started. The kind of men who could always bring light to life's darkest moments.
While they shared a passion for life, they also shared the same fate. On March 29, Roscoe Taylor Jr. died of coronavirus complications at home at age 66. Just days later, on April 5, Roscoe Taylor III died of coronavirus at Community Hospital East.
Roscoe Taylor III would have turned 44 on April 16.
"Waking up that morning and seeing my husband next to me and seeing that he passed away is probably the hardest thing I'll ever go through. Even worse than that is getting the phone call a few days later that my son had passed away," said Diane Taylor, Scoby's wife and Scooter's mother. "It's been a rough thing to deal with and I'm still dealing with it. I'll probably be dealing with it for a long time to come, but they were two awesome men.
"I can guarantee you that anyone you talk to that knew Scoby or Scooter, you'll get a positive response. That's just the kind of character and integrity that they had."
Roscoe Taylor Jr. graduated from Arsenal Technical High School in 1972. He developed a passion for music after he started playing the flute in fifth grade, and was a member of the Arsenal Tech band and choir throughout his high school career. He could also play the saxophone and piano.
As a teen he meet the love of his life, Diane, in the summer of 1969. The couple married Nov. 9, 1974, and had three children, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren during their 45-year union. They were looking forward to celebrating their 46th wedding anniversary this year in Cancun.
We will honor and remember Scooter on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF ANTHONY LARRY RUSH - JANUARY 10, 1953 - MARCH 28, 2020
IN MEMORY OF CARL H. POLLOCK - OCTOBER 21, 1931 - JULY 19, 2020
This Memorial Square comes to us from Catherine in honor and memory of her father, Carl H. Pollock, who died of COVID-19. Catherine writes: My mom lost her husband and my brother and I lost our dad on July 19, 2020. He died in the ICU in the hospital where I work as a nurse educator, but I was not allowed to see him until the night he died: even then, it was just through the glass window with many people covered in isolation gear holding his hand and stroking his head. We miss him tremendously.
I am a quilter but I don't have the concentration to quilt for the last 1.75 years. I give COVID vaccines since they became available. I think of dad constantly and work hard to keep my mom safe.
This photo of him was taken a few weeks before he died. Thanks for doing this.
We will honor and remember Carl on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF TRINIDAD "TRINI" LOPEZ - MAY 15, 1937 - AUGUST 11, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Trinidad "Trini" Lopez, who died of COVID-19. “From the barrio to Beverly Hills,” was how the American entertainer Trini Lopez liked to describe his life’s journey. Lopez, who has died aged 83 from Covid-19, achieved international success as a singer in the early 1960s and is best known in the UK for his 1963 hit "If I Had a Hammer."
Lopez scored a dozen more US hit singles, including La Bamba (1966), which paid tribute to his Mexican roots. He was proud of his family’s origins, and his achievements opened doors for other Latino entertainers in the US.
Lopez was born in Dallas, Texas, to Mexican immigrant parents, Trinidad Lopez II and Petra Gonzalez, who had entered the US illegally, poverty forcing them across the border. In Dallas they and their six children lived in a “barrio” made up almost entirely of Mexican migrants and known as Little Mexico. Lopez would later recall poverty and racism blighting his childhood. “You cannot imagine how hard it was,” he recalled. “I grew up in a very prejudiced part of the country. My father would take us to a little hamburger place – they wouldn’t serve us. Then, when we would get in a bus to go to school, they would tell us to sit in the back of the bus.”
His parents worked in the fields by day, his mother also taking in laundry while his father played music in bars. When Lopez was 11 his father spanked him for “hanging around with the wrong kind of kids”, but subsequently felt bad about it and purchased a $12 guitar for his son. Taught to play by his father, Lopez initially performed Mexican folk songs, busking and singing in Little Mexico bars. After leaving high school aged 16, determined to help support the family, he learned popular blues songs and began performing in Dallas bars and clubs, several of which were owned by Jack Ruby, the mob-connected impresario who would gain infamy by shooting Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963.
Frank Sinatra and his producer Don Costa decided to use a live performance for his debut album, Trini Lopez at PJ’s (1963), which was a huge success. The album’s version of the folk standard If I Had a Hammer reached No 3 on the US charts and then became an international hit. Finally, after almost a decade’s hard work, Lopez was a star: by the end of that year he was reportedly earning $25,000 a week.
Rapid changes in popular music relegated Lopez to playing the “oldies” circuit while he was still in his 30s. Not that he complained – the casinos, cruise ships and international hotel dates proved extremely lucrative, and he continued to record.
We will honor and remember Trini on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF JULIE BENNETT - JANUARY 24, 1932 - MARCH 31, 2020
IN MEMORY OF TIM BROOKE-TAYLOR, OBE - 17 JULY 1940 - 12 APRIL 2020
This Memorial Square comes to us from Wendy from England in honor and memory of Tim Brooke-Taylor OBE, who died of COVID-19. The entertainer, best known as one third of the popular 1970s show The Goodies, and I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, died on Sunday, 12 April, 2020.
Goodies co-star Bill Oddie called him a "true visual comic and a great friend".
The third member of the trio, Graeme Garden, said he was "terribly saddened by the loss of a dear colleague and close friend of over 50 years".
"He was a funny, sociable, generous man who was a delight to work with. Audiences found him not only hilarious but also adorable."
Oddie recalled some of the Goodies' sketches in his tribute tweet, adding: "No-one could wear silly costumes or do dangerous stunts like Tim. I know it hurt cos he used to cry a lot. Sorry Timbo."
Brooke-Taylor's career spanned more than six decades and his comedic roots lay in the Cambridge Footlights Club, which he joined in 1960.
Membership of the Footlights brought him into contact with both Garden and Oddie as well as future Monty Python stars John Cleese and Graham Chapman.
Cleese paid tribute by saying: "Tim was one of my very oldest friends, and one that I used to love performing with. He did 'frightened' better than anyone...".
And another member of Monty Python, Eric Idle, revealed that his career was started in 1963 when he was auditioned by Brooke-Taylor for an annual comedy revue.
Brooke-Taylor started his own broadcasting career on BBC radio, before forming The Goodies with Garden and Oddie and later becoming a long-standing panellist on Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
We will honor and remember Tim on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF LUCIO GONZALEZ - MARCH 27, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Lucio Gonzalez, who died of COVID-19. Panic crept in as Miguel Gonzalez realized that the cruise ship he was reading about in the news was the same one that had just taken his parents to Mexico and back.
Gonzalez learned that several people who had been on the Grand Princess cruise ship at the same time as his parents had later tested positive for the new coronavirus. His father Lucio had begun feeling ill a few days after he got off the ship on Feb. 21, 2020 and returned home to San Rafael. “We thought, ‘God forbid, but we’d better take dad to the hospital,'” Gonzalez said, recounting those frightening moments that continue to haunt him a year later.
“We were thinking we’d take him in, they’d diagnose him with the flu and then we’d all have peace of mind that he didn’t have the virus,” he said. “Well, that was the exact opposite of what happened.” Lucio, 73, tested positive for the coronavirus at Kaiser hospital in San Rafael. It was the first confirmed case of the new virus in Marin County.
By that time, the Grand Princess had captured the world’s attention and made the coronavirus real to millions in the United States when thousands of passengers were quarantined as the ship idled off the California coast. In Marin, health officials warned that the 56 passengers who had been on the ship’s prior voyage had likely been unknowingly exposed to the coronavirus before returning home to the county. That included Lucio and his wife Margrit.
Hours after the Gonzalezes disembarked in San Francisco, a new group boarded for a 10-day trip to Hawaii. The Grand Princess was headed for a stopover in Ensenada, Mexico, when officials ordered it to reroute to California on March 4 after a 71-year-old Rocklin man who had been on the same trip as the Gonzalezes died of COVID-19.
Worried about the virus, officials blocked the ship carrying 2,400 passengers and 1,100 crew members from anchoring at its home port of San Francisco. President Donald Trump said he didn’t want the passengers to disembark on American soil “because I like the numbers being where they are,” but that he would yield to health officials’ advice.
Ultimately, more than 100 people who were on the ship were infected with the coronavirus. At least eight died. Margrit Gonzalez, 82, tested negative for the coronavirus after the trip. But her fear ratcheted up as her husband’s stay in the hospital dragged on. Within two days of his arrival, he slipped into a coma and doctors put him on a ventilator. He died three weeks later, the first death from COVID-19 in Marin.
“I so wish we had not gone on that sea voyage,” she said.
We will honor and remember Lucio on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF PAUL LOGGAN - APRIL 5, 1963 - APRIL 12, 2020
IN MEMORY OF JAMES DeSALLE - JULY 27, 1949 - APRIL 1, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of James DeSalle who died of COVID-19. The way Chandler Thompson sees it, there will be no replacing Jim DeSalle at Lawrence North High School.
DeSalle, who died at 70, was a do-it-all, behind-the-scenes engine that kept Lawrence North basketball humming. There was no real job description for DeSalle, a volunteer who did everything from game statistics to taking care of the uniforms to watching over the student managers. He worked the concession stand and sold trash bags at the farmer’s market to help raise money for the program.
“That was my buddy,” said Thompson, the former Muncie Central and Ball State star who coached at Lawrence North as an assistant from 2007-17. “There was no one more genuine than Jim. There were so many things that he did behind the scenes. Whatever we needed, he was on the spot.”
DeSalle became ill the week after the Lawrence North boys basketball program won Class 4A Sectional 10 at Lawrence Central on March 7. Lawrence North coach Jack Keefer said he sent DeSalle home one day early in the week leading up to the regional game at Southport because of illness.
Keefer said DeSalle was hospitalized later in the week and tested positive for the coronavirus in the days after his admittance. “He was probably in the hospital two or three days and then was tested,” Keefer said. “It took a couple more days for the diagnosis, which was positive.”
“He was just so loyal to Lawrence North,” Keefer said. “Every year he just kept taking on more and more duties. I said, ‘Jim, you can’t do it all.’ But he’d say, ‘I just want to keep busy.’ He would do everything from gameday prep to camps to taking care of uniforms and statistics and making sure we had managers. Then he would leave here and go umpire games. He was the hardest worker you’d ever see. No stone was left unturned.”
“He called to get a scouting report that he could get to coach Keefer,” Thompson said. “But then he asked about my son and daughter and we talked for a while. He said he’d have a ticket waiting for me at Southport and said, ‘Love you’ and ‘Take care.’ That was the last time I talked to him. It’s tough because he was such a great guy. We’re all going to miss him for the things he did for LN. He organized everything. It’s a big void. He can’t be replaced.”
Keefer said his phone has been “ringing off the hook” with people reaching out after hearing about DeSalle’s death.
We will honor and remember James on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF CYNTHIA RYAN - FEBRUARY 24, 2020
This Memorial Square comes to us from Shannon in honor and memory of her mother, Cynthia Ryan, who died of COVID-19. Shannon writes: May I please say, your daughter Madeleine is 100% correct. They are people - and we will never be the same.
The fact that you guys were inspired to begin a project like this one is amazing and a testament to the fact that there are still good people out there. Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
I would very much like to request a square be made in honor of my mother, Cynthia. We lost her at the onset of this terrible tragedy February 24, 2020. We miss her so very much. This upended our life and impacted my family almost beyond repair.
A little bit about my mom:
My mom was a soldier, a veteran of the army and a hippie child from the 60's, always strong enough to overcome anything and keep going. She and my father celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2019. She was a dedicated housewife, mother and grandmother, she was the matriarch of our family. She was a fighter and a patriot and almost made it to her 69th birthday but COVID took her a few weeks before.
Within a week of the onset of her most severe symptoms she was unable to speak, barely able to breath or walk on her own, and in so much pain she was debilitated to a shell of her former self. I found her - stolen in bed in the early hours of that cold frigid fateful February morning. She will be forever missed and always remembered for her zest for adventure, love of her country, and pride in her family. RIP Momma. We Love You and We Will Remember.
Attached, is the last photo she ever took... a lasting memory caught by accident. We were on our way to get our hair done at the salon and get mani/pedi's and my oldest daughter was with us and we snapped a selfie just before we left the house.
If you could print her picture and superimpose her story on it as her memorial square and add it to the quilt - it would mean the whole world to our family. Her sacrifice, along with all of the rest, should forever be remembered in as many places as possible.
Maybe, if we remember this time, next time won't cost so much life. I am also an active Marked By COVID member and would very much like to be a part of making change happen.
We will honor and remember Cynthia on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF ANDREW GIGANTE - NOVEMBER 2, 1942 - DECEMBER 28, 2020
IN MEMORY OF CHARLES F. SUPER, JR. AND PATRICIA ANN SUPER - APRIL 25, 2020
This Memorial Square comes to us from Kimberley in honor and memory of her father, Charles F. Super, Jr., who died of COVID-19. Kimberley writes: Thank you both for your hard work on the quilt project, it touches my heart.
My dad had a hemorrhagic stroke in December of 2018, mom had end stage Alzheimer's and I took care of them both while doing dialysis myself. It was taking a toll on my health and dad was deteriorating at home, so was mom. Late July of 2019 I had to get dad into respite care, just because I couldn't manage both of their care.
When Covid hit my dad didn't understand, he called 911 from the nursing home hoping if he went to the hospital we'd be able to visit. We of course couldn't. By April 22nd I got the call I dreaded, he was presumed positive for Covid. I visited him that day and the next, he was unconscious the second time. By the 24th my husband was worried about me going again, so I didn't. Dad passed at 2 in the morning on the 25th.
IN MEMORY OF MARY A. DI SANDRO - SEPTEMBER 17, 1931 - DECEMBER 13, 2020
This Memorial Square comes to us from Deborah in honor and memory of her mother, Mary Di Sandro, of Pennsylvania, who died of COVID-19.
Deborah writes: Hi. This is my mom, Mary Di Sandro. She was born on September 17, 1931, and went to heaven on December 13, 2020. She was an amazing mother of four, whom she loved so much. She loved cooking and music and loved more than anything being a grandmother and great grandmother. She is missed every day. Thank you.
From Mary's obituary: Mary A. DiSandro (nee Kortonick) passed away on December 13, 2020 at the age of 89. Beloved wife of the late Anthony P. DiSandro; loving mother of George Steele (Blanche), Deborah Bennett (Michael), Patricia Guarna (Vincenzo) and the late Lewis Steele (Margaret); cherished grandmother of Dawn (Michael), Nycole, Lisa, Samantha, Amanda, Allison, Victoria, Anthony, the late Dana and great-grandmother of Joseph, Emily, Michael, Nicholas, Connor, Matthew, Gracie, Adison and Gianna. She is also survived by her brother, Thomas Kortonick, and loving cousin, Joanie Burch.
A dedicated family woman, you would always find Mary enjoying her kids and most of all enjoying her grandchildren. There was never a family event that Mary missed, and she was most happy when everyone was together. Mary never said no to anything we asked of her. Whether it was making a pot of gravy, going for a ride, cleaning and preparing for a party, Mary was always willing to lend a helping hand.
She was a devout Catholic who loved St. Matthew Parish. She sat in the same pew every Saturday for mass and she thoroughly enjoyed being there. Mary loved live music, tapping her feet and clapping her hands to the beat. She loved Wildwood, New Jersey and spent many years vacationing there. She enjoyed life and had a strong presence up until the end. She will be sorely missed every single day, but her memory will live on through her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
We will honor and remember Mary on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF CHRISTIAN JUDE ROMERO - MAY 6, 1962 - SEPTEMBER 22, 2020
IN MEMORY OF DAN BARRETT - 2/25/58 - 9/17/20
This Memorial Square comes to us from Heidi in Michigan in honor and memory of her father, Dan Barrett, who died of COVID-19. Heidi writes:
Hello. I think that this is an absolutely loving way to honor our lost loved ones. I’d like to have one made for my dad. I’m not crafty in any way so I’d be grateful if you’d make one on my behalf. Thank you and your daughter for doing something so big for so many.
Info for square:
IN MEMORY OF NICKOLAS LEE - 5/5/77- 4/12/20
This Memorial Square comes to us from Cassandra in honor and memory of her husband, Nickolas Lee, of Illinois, who died of COVID-19.
Cassandra writes: My name is Cassandra Greer-Lee I lost my husband Nickolas Lee April 12, 2020 to Covid. It would mean the world to me if you could add a square on behalf of Nickolas. I will attach a picture to this email also. I am forever grateful and I will most definitely pass the email around to other families affected by Covid. Nickolas Lee 5/5/77- 4/12/20.
From his obituary: Nickolas Lee passed away on April 12th, 2020 at the age of 42. A lifelong Chicago resident who loved his family and loved to cook, he is survived by his wife of four years, Cassandra Greer-Lee.
Cassandra met Nickolas at the age of seventeen. Though she wasn’t technically allowed to date, she found herself drawn to his sense of humor and infectious personality. The two young adults stayed in touch as Cassandra moved away to pursue a burgeoning career in education, while Nickolas remained in Chicago to operate a car wash. When Cassandra came back to the South Side several years later, they decided to get married.
Even when he was incarcerated, Nickolas was his wife’s “number one supporter.” Cassandra recalls that he would call her every day, both in the morning and when she came back from work. “When I would come home with my lesson plans, he’d be on the phone giving me little ideas for the children that I teach,” she told Sarah Conway of CITY Bureau.
After the pandemic struck, Nickolas and Cassandra’s daily conversations shifted to their concerns about the coronavirus. Wearing a t-shirt as a makeshift mask and wrapping another around the shared jail phone, Nickolas told his wife about two men in his dormitory who had come down with COVID-like symptoms. When it became clear that the correctional officers at Cook County Jail weren’t going to protect her husband, Cassandra decided to take matters into her own hands. She began calling multiple times a day to ask for her husband to be provided with adequate PPE and moved to a different dorm, often receiving no response on the other end. In total, she made 132 calls.
Still, Cassandra’s efforts weren’t enough to save him. After developing a sore throat on March 29th, Nickolas’ condition deteriorated to the point where he could no longer walk. He was hospitalized at Stroger Hospital on April 6th and passed away five days later.
As journalists and activists began investigating the circumstances surrounding Nickolas’s death, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office released a statement denying any wrongdoing. “We have and continue to maximize social distancing, cleaning supplies and personal hygiene for detainees in accordance with the CDC,” they stated. “Nothing that happened today suggests otherwise.”
Yet Cassandra believes that the Sheriff’s Office is absolutely responsible for her husband’s death. She notes that the jail did not provide masks for incarcerated individuals until three people had passed away from the virus, with her husband being the third. Since then, she has spent countless afternoons protesting and demanding accountability in front of Cook County Jail. “I can’t let this happen to another family,” she said. “That’s why I’m fighting every day.”
Cassandra recalls that one of Nickolas’s favorite ways to spend his Sunday mornings was to watch the sunrise from the docks of the South Side. “He saw how peaceful it was and how the sun beams when it comes up off the water, almost as if it [were] arising from the water itself,” she said.
We will honor and remember Nickolas on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF PAULA GREENHOUGH - JUNE 9, 1964 - APRIL 3, 2020
IN MEMORY OF VICTORIA MARIE FAY - AUGUST 4, 1960 - APRIL 22, 2021
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Victoria Marie Fay, of New Jersey, who died of COVID-19.
Vicki was an amazing, fun-loving, live-your-life-everyday-as-if-it-was-your-last kinda gal. She continually gave from the heart. She was the best fun-loving and caring sister, mother, aunt and friend anyone could ever ask for.
She was a great hairdresser and cook and shared the love with all! She never missed a birthday, or any other celebrated occasion, with family and friends!
Vicki died in a hospital room, losing her battle to COVID-19 with her daughter by her side and her heartbroken family and friends consoling each other.
Vicki is and will be loved and missed forever. Her beautiful spirit will forever be with her friends and family when they look at the moon, stars, and clouds, not to mention flowers, great music and pot luck parties!
Vicki, fly high with the Angels and continue to watch over your beloved family and friends!
We will honor and remember Vicki on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF LUCIA BOSE - JANUARY 28, 1931 - MARCH 23, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Lucia Bose who died of COVID-19.
Lucia Bosé, an Italian actress in neorealist films of the 1950s who walked away from her career to marry the Spanish bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguín, only to return to acting after they separated, died on March 23, 2020, in Segovia, Spain. She was 89.
After she won the Miss Italy beauty pageant in 1947, Ms. Bosé traveled to Rome and drew the attention of the directors Michelangelo Antonioni and Giuseppe De Santis. In 1950 she appeared in De Santis’s “Under the Olive Tree” and Antonioni’s first feature film, “Story of a Love Affair.”
One of her most prominent parts was as Clara, a would-be actress who marries a film producer played by Gino Cervi in Antonioni’s “The Lady Without Camelias” (1953). The producer’s jealousy drives Clara into a film that ultimately bombs.
Ms. Bosé traveled to Spain to film Juan Antonio Bardem’s “Death of a Cyclist” (1955), where she met Mr. Dominguín, Spain’s foremost bullfighter and a celebrity who was profiled by Ernest Hemingway in a series of articles in Life magazine in 1960 that eventually became the posthumously published book “The Dangerous Summer.”
They married quietly in Nevada that year, and Ms. Bosé played important characters in two more films, Luis Buñuel’s “That Is the Dawn” and Glauco Pellegrini’s “Symphony of Love” (both 1956), before she stopped acting to raise their family.
Ms. Bosé interrupted her retirement for a cameo in Jean Cocteau’s “The Testament of Orpheus” (1960) with Mr. Dominguín and Pablo Picasso, a family friend.
Ms. Bosé and Mr. Dominguín separated in the late 1960s, causing a scandal in the conservative Spain of Francisco Franco.
Ms. Bosé was born on Jan. 28, 1931, in Milan to Domenico Bosé, who worked on an industrial farm, and Francesca Borlani, a homemaker. She grew up in the city, sheltering in a small town in Lombardy when it was bombed during World War II.
After returning to Milan she studied at a vocational school and worked at a bakery before winning the Miss Italy pageant and moving to Rome. In addition to her son, her survivors include two daughters, Paola and Lucia González Bosé; and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
We will honor and remember Lucia on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF MARIA MERCADER - NOVEMBER 28, 1965 - MARCH 29, 2020.
IN MEMORY OF SEKOU SMITH - 1972 - 2021
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Sekou Smith who died of COVID-19. Sekou Smith, a longtime NBA reporter and television analyst, was 48.
A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Smith went to college at Jackson State in Mississippi, before starting his career at the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson. He went on to become a fixture in the NBA universe -- first as a beat writer covering the Indiana Pacers for the Indianapolis Star and the Atlanta Hawks for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, before joining Turner Sports in 2009.
For more than a decade, Smith starred across all platforms for Turner, serving as an analyst for NBA TV, a writer for NBA.com and a host of the Hang Time Podcast.
Smith is survived by his wife, Heather, and their three children, Gabriel, Rielly and Cameron.
"We are all heartbroken over Sekou's tragic passing. His commitment to journalism and the basketball community was immense and we will miss his warm, engaging personality," Turner Sports said in a statement. "He was beloved by his Turner Sports and NBA friends and colleagues. Our deepest condolences are with his family and loved ones."
We will honor and remember Sekou on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF CHARLEY PRIDE - MARCH 18, 1934 - DECEMBER 12, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Charley Pride who died of COVID-19. Charley Frank Pride was born March 18, 1934 and died December 18, 2020.
Country music legend Charley Pride — a pioneer for Black artists in the genre and the first Black member of the Country Music Hall of Fame — died on Dec. 12, 2020, in Dallas from complications of COVID-19. He was 86.
A fine baritone voice and friendly, graceful manner ensured that Charley Pride enjoyed dozens of US country hits and worldwide popularity. He was also the first African American to enjoy any kind of success singing country music – and for quite a time the only one.
He broke country’s color barrier but always insisted that music knew no color: “I never viewed country as white music. The songs were stories about the good times and bad that all people experienced.” He was never an activist, but his quiet dignity ensured that he was able to make a breakthrough.
Born in Sledge, Mississippi, Charley was the fourth of 11 children of Mack (Fowler) Pride and his wife, Tessie (nee Stewart). His parents were sharecroppers who cultivated peanuts, corn and cotton. They lived in a house that Charley described as more akin to a shack, with the children sleeping three and four to a bed, and Sledge was small and deeply segregated.
Pride met his wife Rozene Cohran, a cosmetologist, in Memphis and they married just as he was drafted into the US army in 1956. Discharged in 1958, Pride returned to Memphis but was prevented from rejoining the Red Sox by an arm injury. He then approached Sun Studios, where Elvis Presley was discovered. The studio made a recording of him, but declined to release it.
One evening the singer-songwriter Red Sovine caught Pride’s performance and advised him to go to Nashville. Soon, he was selling more records than any other RCA artist since Elvis, and came across on stage as a placid, easygoing man. He later revealed that from 1968 onwards he struggled with depression and bipolar disorder. In his autobiography Pride (1994, written with Jim Henderson) he details how, as a child, he was traumatized when two menacing white men kidnapped his little brother – the county sheriff would return the boy, seemingly unharmed – and how, as a teenager, he came to hate the white people who treated him and his community with open contempt.
In 1985 RCA dropped Pride, as they were now focused on promoting a more youth-oriented style of pop country. This embittered him, as he felt that he and other older artists were being discarded unfairly. Pride continued to tour and record – he received a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2017 – his last performance being a duet with the country singer Jimmie Allen on 11 November 2020, at the CMA awards in Nashville. Pride is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.
We will honor and remember Charley on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF GULSHAN EWING - 1928 - APRIL 18, 2020
IN MEMORY OF OFFICER BECKY V. STRONG - AUGUST 2, 2021
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Becky V. Strong, a 27-Year LAPD veteran, who died of COVID-19 complications. Police Officer Becky V. Strong began working for LAPD in 1994, the department said in her death announcement.
“It is with an extremely heavy heart that we mourn the loss of LAPD Police Officer Becky Strong, who passed away this morning from complications of COVID-19,” LAPD said in a tweet. “Our deepest condolences go out to Officer Strong’s entire family, colleagues, and friends in this most difficult time.”
Officer Strong was most recently assigned to the South Traffic Division.
As of July 27, 2021, the LAPD had reported nine deaths related to COVID-19 infections, with seven being sworn officers and two civilian employees, the City of Los Angeles said on Friday, July 30.
In total, the LAPD has had 2,787 employees test positive for COVID-19 and one reported reinfection, the city reported. As of Friday, 102 LAPD employees were self-isolating at home due to exposure, the city said.
On Twitter her colleagues mourned her. The Los Angeles Police Protective League posted, "Our prayers and love go to the family and colleagues of LAPD Police Officer II Becky Strong who passed away from COVID-19 complications. Officer Strong faithfully protected our city for 27 years. RIP Officer Strong, you will be missed."
Vaccination rates among LAPD officers have lagged the general public since the start of the pandemic. As of early June, the LAPD reported that only 46.5 percent of officers had received their first and second vaccine doses compared to 62-percent of the general population. The lagging vaccination rates among fire and police personnel prompted city officials last week to require city workers to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing.
We will honor and remember Becky on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF KATHY JONES - 7/26/55 - 7/6/2020
This Memorial Square comes to us from Todd in Arizona in honor and memory of his aunt, Kathy Jones, who died of COVID-19.
Todd writes: I am so amazed by this project. I saw the AIDS Memorial Quilt in my young adult days, when I'd had friends pass away. We were in our 20's.
I lost my Aunt Kathy Jones. I am grateful and I'm hoping that the Covid Memorial Quilt makes its way to the AZ Heritage Center Museum in Tempe, where I work. Thank you.
From National Geographic: To Todd Bailey, 53, Kathy Jones was always his “cool aunt.” Kathy, the youngest of his mother’s four sisters, took him to his first concert and rooted for him when he left Arizona to live in New York and San Francisco. Then she opened her door to him when he moved back to be closer to his mother.
In late June, Kathy, 64, started feeling sick with what she thought was a urinary tract infection. But at the hospital, she tested positive for COVID. She texted that she felt terrible for potentially exposing her family, and sent Todd links to testing sites, urging him to go.
As Kathy grew sicker, Todd and his mother, Joyce, tested positive, too. He was OK, but his mother could barely stand. She felt like her whole body had a migraine. He called an ambulance for her the same day Kathy took a turn for the worse.
With his mom in one ICU and Aunt Kathy in another four miles down the road, Todd camped out on the couch and tried to manage a barrage of calls from the hospitals, as well as texts and food drop-offs from loved ones. His mother was critically ill, but she was also the power of attorney for Kathy. So from her ICU bed, she tried to communicate with her sister’s doctors.
In Kathy’s last text to Todd, she asked for her debit card. He hates that she was thinking about finances in her final moments of lucidity. Amid the confusion, he texted her a few final times but got no response. Kathy died on July 6.
His last text message to her: "Hope you're eating. Don't want to call and make you talk. We are loving you."
“She had survived all these other things, and in nine days COVID came and took her from us,” Todd says. “More than once she mentioned the horror, how awful it would be to go exactly the way she did.”
We will honor and remember Kathy on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF DARLEEN SEARS-HOLMES - NOVEMBER 3, 1956 - APRIL 20, 2020
IN MEMORY OF PATRICK JONES - MARCH 28, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Patrick Jones of Louisiana who died of COVID-19. Patrick Jones was incarcerated at a low-security prison in Oakdale, Louisiana, on a nonviolent drug charge when he became the first federal inmate known to die of COVID-19. He had served almost 13 years of a 27-year sentence, and in the months before his death, he was pursuing sentence reduction under the new First Step Act. He was 49.
Jones was the first of five prisoners who have died after contracting the coronavirus at FCI Oakdale I, a federal prison in Louisiana that holds nearly 1,000 men. The virus has spread so extensively in the facility that those who show symptoms are no longer being tested.
When Patrick Jones called his family members from a federal prison in Louisiana, he’d talk about how hard he was trying to get out. He wanted to return to Texas and open a restaurant, serving everything from tacos to brisket to soul food. He’d even learned to make pastries while inside.
But most of all, he was worried his own son might be on the path to prison, and, having spent so much of his own adult life in and out of trouble, he wanted to get out in time to intervene. “Patrick’s goal was to get out to try to stop him from living that type of lifestyle,” recalled Jones’s stepdaughter. “He was trying to make amends,” said one of Jones’s older sons. “Everybody makes mistakes.”
On March 19, Jones complained of a persistent cough, according to the Bureau of Prisons press release, which noted that he had “long-term, pre-existing medical conditions which the CDC lists as risk factors for developing more severe COVID-19 disease.” He was taken to a local hospital, where he tested positive and was placed on a ventilator. He was pronounced dead on March 28.
We will honor and remember Patrick on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF RAY KEITH - JAN 7, 2021
This Memorial Square comes to us from Mark in honor and memory of Ray Keith who died of COVID-19.
Ray was a Navy Veteran, a Christian, a Husband, Father, Grandpa, Hunter, Great Grandpa, Fisherman, Gardener, and West Virginian.
We will honor and remember Ray on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF HOPE KEITH - JAN 23, 2021
IN MEMORY OF SCOTT KAPLAN - 5/14/76 - 5/2/20
This Memorial Square comes to us from Denise in honor and memory of her husband, Scott Kaplan, who died of COVID-19. Denise writes: My 43-year-old husband, Scott Kaplan (b: 5/14/76), was a perpetual warrior.
He battled Multiple Sclerosis for 17 years of his life by walking, biking, fundraising and also supporting others with MS. He always said no disease process was going to rob him of the life he wanted to live - and he kept active as a way to combat it.
He was winning at life and beating MS, until Covid took him. Getting sick at work, while working on providing PPE to his employees in early March 2020, was completely unexpected. He fought hard, and ultimately died 5/2/20.
He was also a Dad to two wonderful boys who loved having him coach their sports year round, watch Star Wars and practice their "Dad jokes" together. He was a loving husband, a supportive brother, and an attentive son. He brought smiles to everyone he encountered, and gave the best hugs ever. He had a heart of gold, and brought so much more to this world than he took.
His motto: "Do or do not, there is no try." (From Star Wars.)
Favorite color: Orange
Favorite Sports Team: NY Yankees
Favorite Charity: National Multiple Sclerosis Society
Favorite thing to do: "Be a good human!"
We will honor and remember Scott on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF ALLEN HAVELIN - DECEMBER 27, 1962 - APRIL 11, 2020
This Memorial Square comes to us from Carmela of NY in honor and memory of her husband Allen Havelin who died of COVID-19. Carmela writes: Good morning. Please add my husband to your quilt. Allen Havelin passed away April 11, 2020. Born December 27, 1962. Lived in East Meadow, NY.
"Always in our hearts. My life will never be the same without you. You were my everything. Miss and love you so much. Love always, me."
We will honor and remember Allen on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF RANDY WHIPPLE - 1942 - 2020
IN MEMORY OF ERNEST FIEGENHEIMER
This Memorial Square comes to us from Ellen in Michigan in honor and memory of Ernest Fiegenheimer who died of COVID-19. Ellen writes:
The enclosed 8 x 8 square is a piece of one of my dad's shirts. It was one of his favorites.
Ernest Fiegenheimer, 94 years old, healthy and living independently...proud father of 4, proud grandfather of ten, proud great grandfather of nine, beloved husband, successful businessman and community leader, respected by all as a gentleman who valued honesty, integrity, and goodwill, cherished his summers at Crystal Lake, and loved his Green Bay Packers.
We were blessed to call him Dad.
-Ellen. Lauren. Eric. Mark.
We will honor and remember Ernest on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF ALL THOSE WHO HAVE DIED IN COLOMBIA
This Memorial Square comes to us from Dr. Julio of Colombia in honor and memory of all those in the country of Colombia who have died of COVID-19.
Dr. Julio writes:
yo soy medico desde hace 18 meses que supe del covid lo he tenido en la mente, primero sobrecogido de miedo por lo que me podría pasar, trabajo en urgencias. a medida que avanzaba la pandemia empecé a pintar un cuadro en homenaje póstumo a las victimas y tomando iconos conocidos por todos y convirtiéndolos en coronavirus. coronavirilizacion de las imagenes enmarcado en el mapa de colombia un coronavirus por cada 10000 victimas.
Google translation:
I have been a doctor for 18 months that I knew about the covid I have had it in mind, first overwhelmed with fear of what could happen to me, I work in the emergency room. As the pandemic progressed, I began to paint a painting in posthumous tribute to the victims and taking icons known to all and turning them into coronavirus. coronavirilization of the images framed in the map of Colombia one coronavirus for every 10,000 victims.
We will honor and remember all those who've died in Colombia on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF DANNY WILLIAMS - DECEMBER 21, 2020
IN MEMORY OF PETER SZABO - MARCH 27, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Peter Szabo who died of COVID-19.
Peter Szabo of Hypoluxo, Florida, defected with his wife, Raisa, from the Soviet Union in 1984. Peter Szabo fled the Soviet Union with his wife. And the electrical engineering professor endured a legal battle with his employers at Florida Atlantic University. But he was killed by something he couldn’t see.
Szabo died March 27 2020 from the coronavirus at JFK Medical Center in Atlantis. He was 67.
“He was very smart. Extremely intelligent. Outgoing,” his wife, Raisa, said. “A very good human being.”
Szabo, born in Budapest, Hungary, met his Russian-born wife at graduate school in Kiev, Ukraine. They married and moved to Budapest for their doctoral studies. There, in 1984, with two small children, the couple defected.
Peter had been working in the Soviet space program, and Americans were able to get him to a safe house in Germany, his wife said.
“It was not easy, but we made it happen,” Raisa Szabo said. “We arrived in the U.S. in 1985, as political refugees.”
He began to show signs of the virus that would take his life on March 9, Raisa said.
He “didn’t feel well. High fever. Cough. Sweats. I called paramedics.”
She said she doesn’t know how Peter was exposed, but said it might have happened when he went to doctor after breaking his wrist and also after he got a leg infection.
At the hospital, “despite all the efforts of the doctors, he got worse and worse,” Raisa said. On March 19, she said, her husband was put in the intensive care unit and placed on a ventilator.
Peter Szabo, who had high blood pressure, a weak heart and diabetes, “had no chance of survival,” his wife said. Eventually, she said, the family decided to remove life support.
At the end, she said, because she could not be with her husband, a nurse held a cellphone so Peter, unable to talk through his ventilator, could at least hear his wife.
After Szabo’s death, Raisa has received numerous emails from friends and former colleagues, saying “how much they appreciated him as a colleague, as a professor. He did a lot of good at FAU.”
The couple, who lived in Hypoluxo, had two children and seven grandchildren. Peter Szabo will be cremated, his wife said. She said a formal service is on hold because she herself is in quarantine.
“When all the craziness goes away,” she said, “we will decide what to do.”
We will honor and remember Peter on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF ETHEL WRIGHT - APRIL 4, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Ethel Wright who died of COVID-19.
Ethel Wright worked for Morrison’s Cafeteria more than 20 years ago and lived with her husband of 43 years, Willie. She was born in Georgia and moved to Florida with her family as a kid.
Willie Wright said she went to the hospital for swelling in her hands two weeks before she died and went home, but was not tested for COVID-19 or hospitalized before she died.
“I don’t know what they did after she died,” he said. “But they didn’t test her before she died.”
Wright had diabetes and heart disease, according to the Broward County Medical Examiner, and died on April 4, 2020.
We will honor and remember Ethel on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF HEIDI FERRER - 1970 - 2021
IN MEMORY OF DENNARD WASHINGTON - MARCH 25, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of George Dennard Washington, Jr. who died of COVID-19.
Hollywood native George “Dennard” Washington Jr., a senior state administrator for Mothers Against Drunk Driving Florida, died March 25 at Westside Regional Hospital in Plantation.
Washington was a graduate of J.P. Taravella High School, with a degree in business administration from Lynn University in Boca Raton, and an usher at Bethasemane Missionary Baptist Church in Hollywood and Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Miramar.
“Dennard was very passionate, kind-hearted and loved his work with MADD. He will be greatly missed!” said a testimonial on the MADD Facebook page.
Washington is survived by wife Canica Dillard Washington; parents George and Henrietta Washington, of Miramar; and six sisters, along with a large extended family.
We will honor and remember Dennard on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF JEFF KURTZMAN - JULY 21, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Jeff Kurtzman who died of COVID-19. Jeff Kurtzman, 60, died of COVID-19 on July 21. He was a flight attendant for Hawaiian Airlines for nearly 35 years.
Although he was based in Los Angeles, his friends and fellow flight attendants say he loved everything about Hawaii.
After attending a training session in Honolulu in late June, Kurtzman and 16 other Hawaiian Airlines personnel tested positive for the coronavirus. He died in the hospital after he returned to California.
Joni Kashiwai became a flight attendant at about the same time as Kurtzman in the mid-1980s and spent decades working on flights with him.
She is currently the president of the Hawaiian Airlines branch of the flight attendants’ union.
She said they both had come to the profession from dissatisfaction with earlier work goals. She had wanted to be a legal assistant and he had thought of becoming a hairdresser when they found their true joy in the freedom of flying.
“We both took to it in the same way. It was a perfect fit. A lot of us are like that. We don’t like being tied to a 9 to 5 job.”
“When people apply to be flight attendants, they all say the same thing that they love people, hoping that will get them hired,” she said. “But with Jeff it was true. He was a people person who genuinely loved the passengers.”
He also was always available to help people having hard times. He volunteered on his days off to help his colleagues resolve their personal problems when they came to the union’s employee assistance program.
“Jeff was someone the employees trusted and felt comfortable sitting down with to speak frankly about what was bothering them. He had been through a lot in his own life and had empathy for what they were going through,” she said.
Kurtzman enjoyed traveling on exotic adventure trips. The more remote the better.
“He had been to places like Antarctica where passengers went ashore in small zodiac boats to see wildlife. He took fabulous pictures of it. I didn’t even know you could do things like that,” she said.
He also loved camping, joining his friends for a wilderness trip every year.
“He told me that I would be amazed by the way they camped with deluxe tents, soft mattresses with even an espresso machine so they could have cappuccinos in the morning. He loved life and everything about it,” she said.
Kashiwai says losing an old friend like Kurtzman has made the virus real for her in a way it has never been before; missing a friend with whom she worked for more than 30 years, bonding over their shared flying experiences and after work the steak and French fry dinners they had come to love on their runs down to Tahiti.
“It really hit home for me to lose Jeff,” she said. “The virus is happening all around us now. It is getting worse. It is scary and different when you know someone who has died.”
We will honor and remember Jeff on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF PEARL PRUSE - APRIL 7, 2020
IN MEMORY OF AZADE KILIC - APRIL 2, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Azade Kilic who died of COVID-19.
Azade Kilic was visiting her daughter, Deniz Kilic, in Delray Beach, Florida, when she was hospitalized. Known as “Azzie,” she had come to the United States from Turkey when she was 19. She worked for Wolf & Sons Paint in New York and chose colors and wallpaper designs for clients.
She began to feel sick in her home in Queens, where her doctor said she had pneumonia and tested her for COVID-19. She went to Delray Beach to stay at her daughter’s, while Deniz Kilic stayed at her boyfriend’s home.
After a few days at her daughter’s, she began to have trouble breathing, around the same time her positive test results from New York came back. She went by ambulance to Delray Medical Center, where she was placed on a ventilator.
She died four days later.
“I didn’t want her to be alone in New York,” Deniz Kilic said. “But she died alone here. I never got to see her.”
She died April 2, 2020.
We will honor and remember Azzie on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF PATRICIA LUCILLE TETRAULT - JANUARY 26, 1932 - MARCH 30, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Patricia Lucille Tretault who died of COVID-19.
Pat died on March 30th, one of the first COVID-19 related deaths in Maine. The 88-year old was living in a senior housing complex in Westbrook.
That hot spot was on Pat's floor. Several days later with a cough she couldn't shake, Pat tested positive and ended up in Northern Light Mercy Hospital four days later. She passed away from COVID-19 a little more than a week later.
In the early days of the virus -- Stephanie and her siblings were allowed to say goodbye. Following their mom's death, Stephanie, who lives on the Cape in Massachusetts and her family members in Maine, were immediately quarantined.
Even more devastating, Pat's death was reported as a nameless statistic. A public funeral was not an option during the crisis to remember a woman who's true joy was her family -- that included several great, great grandchildren.
'A woman in her 80's, a man in his 70's, oh that must be the one where they counted mom, whatever and it felt so horrible,' said Orr.
After emerging from isolation, someone sent Stephanie this social media page, 'Every number has a name' where loved ones can post photos and obituaries of people lost to Covid19 and celebrate their lives.
While a public tribute to her mom can't replace a memorial service, daily words of love and comfort is helping Stephanie and her family heal.
We will honor and remember Pat on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF BARBARA SHELLEY - JANUARY 3, 2021
IN MEMORY OF ELIAS ILAR YORO - APRIL 24, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Elias Ilar Yoro who died of COVID-19.
Elias Ilar Yoro was a sugar plantation worker, an actor in stage plays and in his later years, a caregiver to three elderly people who lived in his Ewa Beach home.
He died of COVID-19 on April 24, 2020, at Queen’s Medical Center. He was 72.
The health department offered two sentences to describe Elias Yoro as Hawaii’s COVID-19 Death No. 14: “an Oahu man who had been hospitalized since the beginning of April, was over 65 years old, and had underlying medical conditions. He had a history of travel to Las Vegas in March.”
The stark words tell nothing about his family’s loss and its suffering as it prayed for a recovery that never came.
Amado Yoro says no one knows for sure where his youngest brother Elias contracted the coronavirus but he became very sick, two days after he returned from Las Vegas.
Elias loved card games and playing the slot machines on his visits to Las Vegas where he once hit a jackpot at the California Hotel.
Amado said that as much as his brother liked gambling, he loved even more sharing the cash he won with his family members, freely giving away his loot, including a dollar here and there to Amado’s youngest grandchildren.
“He was a jolly fellow,” said Amado. “And extremely generous. If a relative in the Philippines wanted to launch a business raising pigs or goats, he would send money to help them get started. He paid for round trip tickets for us to visit the Philippines.”
A housemate took Elias to The Queen’s Medical Center West on March 24, and at some point thereafter he was transferred to the intensive care unit at The Queen’s Medical Center downtown. He died 10 days later with his body still attached to a ventilator. “It was very fast,” said Amado.
Amado said he was never able to speak to his brother again. Elias was in the intensive care unit where nobody could visit him to help ease his suffering.
Amado looked at his brother for the last time April 23, the day before he died, seeing him remotely in a video teleconference session called by his doctor to inform the family that Elias was dying. The doctor was standing over Elias’ bed in the intensive care room. Elias was comatose with a plastic shield and the ventilator partially obscuring his face.
Amado, a community advocate and a writer, kept detailed notes in his journal of what the doctor told them.
“The doctor said, ‘Sorry. Sorry. I am very sorry. Elias is getting weaker. He is giving up. It is not his high blood pressure; it is not his asthma. It is the virus that is killing him. It is the virus that is making him uncomfortable.’”
“I knew him for 72 years. We were so close. He was my hero.” — Amado Yoro
Then, because no priest was present, the family asked Amado to say the last rites.
“I said, ‘I commend my brother to you, oh Lord. Take him, oh God. Stand over him, Lord. We miss you, brother Elias. We love you.’”
Amado says what he misses most is the company of the brother he used to see at least once a week and to speak with every day by phone. “I knew him for 72 years. We were so close. He was my hero.”
The two brothers shared a hardship not easily understood by others who had not lived it: the three years they worked as field utility workers at Oahu Sugar Co. after they immigrated to Hawaii from Sinait, Ilocos Sur, in the Philippines in 1971.
Amado was 26 and Elias, 23. Even though Amado rose to be the plantation’s housing and safety coordinator and Elias became the pump maintenance man, it was those early days working as field hands for $2.10 an hour that always stuck in their minds.
As they planted cane stalks in the heat and the dust, in their heavy protective clothes, they were always thirsty.
Amado said in recent years when Elias came to visit him, he had a a code phrase in Ilocano uttered first thing when he walked through the door, “Adda danum dita?”
“Is there any water?” It was their secret password to remember the times in the sugar cane fields when all they could think of was something cool to drink.
“He loved water, plain water,” said Amado.
These days when Amado drives to the Mililani Memorial Park to visit Elias’ grave, before he walks back to his car, he always leaves behind at his headstone a bottle of orange juice and a chilled bottle of spring water in memory of the thirst that never seemed to go away.
We will honor and remember Elias on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF THEODORE "TED" LUMPKIN - 1919 - 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Theodore "Ted" Lumpkin who died of COVID-19.
Theodore ‘Ted’ Lumpkin was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, the Black pilots and support staff who served with distinction in World War II. He served as an intelligence officer, giving mission briefings to pilots during a combat tour in Italy. He retired from the Air Force Reserves as a lieutenant colonel.
Lumpkin’s own family didn’t know about his involvement in the Tuskegee Airmen until much later in his life.
After retiring from the Air Force Reserves and subsequent careers as a social worker and real estate broker, Lumpkin became the president of the Los Angeles chapter of Tuskegee Airmen Inc. The organization’s mission is to honor the accomplishments of the Tuskegee Airmen and promote interest in aviation and science among young people. Lumpkin kept a busy travel schedule for many years, giving presentations and attending board meetings.
Lumpkin, a native Angeleno, died of COVID-19 on Dec. 26, 2020, at a hospital, just days shy of his 101st birthday, said his son Ted Lumpkin III.
“We’re carrying on his [legacy], but it’s an end of an era,” his son said.
Lumpkin lived a full life. He was drafted into the military in 1942 when he was a 21-year-old student at UCLA. He was assigned to the 100th Fighter Squadron of the all-Black unit in Tuskegee, Ala., as a 2nd lieutenant with the U.S. Army Air Force.
He said his eyes weren’t good enough to become a pilot, so he served as an intelligence officer, briefing pilots about missions during his overseas combat tour in Italy.
During his tenure in the military, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from USC. He met his wife, Georgia, while he was a student and got married soon after. Years later, he retired from the the Air Force Reserve as a lieutenant colonel.
He started a new era of his life working for Los Angeles County, serving as a social worker among other jobs over 32 years. He later shifted gears again, becoming a real estate broker and opening his own real estate company.
Although Lumpkin played a role in changing the military’s culture, his family knew only that he served during WWII, not that he was one of the fabled Tuskegee Airmen.
“Who the heck are these guys? Then, there’s my dad walking onstage,” he said. “He never talked about it, but from there it took off like wildfire.”
The Tuskegee Airmen received Congress’ highest civilian recognition in 2007 with the Congressional Gold Medal. Nearly two years later, President Obama invited the surviving squadron members, including Lumpkin, to his inauguration.
Before Lumpkin tested positive for COVID-19, he was able to live life on his own terms. He enjoyed taking drives down Pacific Coast Highway and had recently purchased a new white Kia Sport. He wore his mask during errands. He’d occasionally call in a takeout order at the Hilltop Coffee and Kitchen in Inglewood for a breakfast sandwich. He learned how to use Zoom for virtual conferences and board meetings.
“As tragic as it is with COVID taking him, he still won in the game of life. He still got to do everything anybody should want to do,” Kelly said.
Lumpkin Jr. is survived by his wife, two sons, one daughter, several grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
We will honor and remember Ted on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF ROMI ANEJA - OCTOBER 2, 1955 (INDIA) - MAY 19, 2020
IN MEMORY OF CHRISTINE ARMOUR - MARCH 21, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Christine Armour who died of COVID-19.
A South Florida resident for more than 30 years, Christine Armour had a “heart of gold” and loved spending time with her family, according to her granddaughter Jasmine Armour-Sponseller.
A retired post office employee, Armour later started her own business, sewing and designing African clothes. Christine was always keeping busy, Armour-Sponseller said, frequently volunteering at a food pantry to help out the needy, going to church, and even serving as an usher for movie night at Century Village, among other things.
“She was a giving person,” Jasmine said. “She had a heart of gold. Anything you needed, she was there. She would give her shirt off if she had to. She was a person you could go to when you need to talk your problems out.”
“She helped raise me and my sister. My mom was a firefighter and had to work a lot, so when my mom was working, we were with our grandmother. Me and my sister loved our grandmother to death.”
Christine is survived by her children, Brian, Patricia, and Anthony.
She died on March 21, 2020, at Good Samaritan Medical Center.
We will honor and remember Christine on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF EARL BAILEY - APRIL 5, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Earl Bailey of Florida who died of COVID-19.
Earl Bailey was a nurse who worked for a staffing company and was assigned to multiple hospitals, mostly Florida Medical Center in Lauderdale Lakes. He was born in Jamaica, and moved to South Florida about 2002 from Canada, said his daughter Sashia Bailey of Pompano Beach.
He had five children and five grandchildren.
“My father was very strong and felt he could beat it," Sashia Bailey said. "He was very healthy, he worked out every day, even at Florida Medical Center, he would round up the nurses and go exercise.”
According to Broward’s Medical Examiner’s Office, Bailey went into cardiac arrest at home after being quarantined over testing positive for the virus.
He died April 5, 2020.
We will honor and remember Earl on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF MARY AGYEIWAA AGYAPONG - APRIL 12, 2020
IN MEMORY OF BENNETT BAKST - APRIL 2, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Bennett Bakst of Florida who died of COVID-19.
The retired pharmacist was born in Brooklyn and owned several drugstores in New York City, including Kaufman Pharmacy across from the Waldorf Astoria, for a long time the only 24-hour drugstore in Manhattan.
“Even during the infamous New York City blackout of 1977, Bennett, with his wife Shari, kept the store open and served customers all day and all night,” said his granddaughter, Alexandra Miljanic.
He retired to Palm Isles, west of Boynton Beach, where he joined clubs and served as a C.O.P. (Citizen on Patrol) every week for 20 years, Miljanic said. He also cared for Shari through a long illness. They were married for almost 50 years.
Bakst was the father of four children, grandfather of seven and great-grandfather of two and was “the most loving, kind, sweet man,” said his wife of the past 15 years, Gail.
She said he had been weakened by several other illnesses, including surgery in early March. He had started feeling better but developed dizziness and shortness of breath shortly after. “We don’t know how he contracted“ COVID-19, she said. He died April 2, 2020.
We will honor and remember Bennett on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF DORIS BAKER - APRIL 3, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Doris Baker of Florida who died of COVID-19.
For the past seven years, Doris Baker lived in an independent apartment at the Atria Willow Wood assisted living facility in Fort Lauderdale. On April 3, 2020, she became the seventh resident from the facility to die from the coronavirus when she passed away at Holy Cross Hospital.
Carolyn Baker, her daughter-in-law, said Doris Baker was a lively and adventurous woman known for her extensive traveling in the years after she retired from a range of secretarial and teaching positions. For years, Baker traveled around the country on her own in an R.V. Before she died, she had plans to visit the rainforest in Costa Rica.
“She traveled everywhere,” her daughter-in-law said. “I don’t think there were many places left that she hadn’t visited.”
Baker was born in Saline, Michigan and was married to her husband for 60 years when he died in 2002. After moving into Willow Wood, she quickly became involved in a number of activities, most famously, calling bingo. She leaves behind two children, seven grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and nine great-great grandchildren.
Her daughter-in-law said the family is unclear how Baker first contracted the virus, but believes the amount of infections and deaths that have occurred at Willow Wood make it clear proper steps weren’t being taken to ensure the safety of residents. “I feel that they dropped the ball,” she said.
We will honor and remember Doris on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF RON ROSS - MARCH 23, 2020
IN MEMORY OF HERB BAUM - APRIL 20, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Herb Baum of Florida who died of COVID-19.
Herb Baum stewarded construction of a new animal shelter on land he bought in Jupiter, but died of COVID-19 before he could see its completion.
The grand opening for Furry Friends Adoption, Clinic & Ranch had been set for April 15 but was delayed because of social-distancing mandates. He died April 20 at 83.
Baum was the former chief of several large companies, including Campbell Soup North and South America, Quaker State Corporation, Hasbro Inc. and the Dial Corporation.
A lover of cats and dogs, he retired to Jupiter and plunged into the world of animal rescue. He became part of a group that overhauled the former Safe Harbor animal shelter in 2013. He also bought a 28-acre property near Palm City in Martin County as a sanctuary for unadoptable dogs.
Baum is survived by his wife, Karen; daughter Dina Calloway and her husband, Tommy Calloway; son Marc Goldfarb; and a granddaughter and a grandson.
We will honor and remember Herb on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF SHANNON BENNETT - APRIL 3, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Shannon Bennett of Florida who died of COVID-19.
Broward Sheriff’s Deputy Shannon Bennett died on April 3, 2020, week after being diagnosed with COVID-19. He was a 12-year veteran of the force and had been a school resource officer at Deerfield Beach Elementary School since January 2019.
The school’s principal, Andrew Gerlach, described the deputy as “a caring and loving school resource officer who was always willing to go above and beyond to support our students and community.”
Bennett’s friend Tim Martin characterized him as a loyal friend and a strong player in the South Florida Amateur Athletic Association, which runs a gay softball league.
We will honor and remember Shannon on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF RENO BOFFICE - APRIL 14, 2020
IN MEMORY OF MARIE BONANZINGA - MARCH 22, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Marie Bonanzinga who died of COVID-19.
Marie Bonanzinga was the quintessential New York Italian mother whose Long Island home was filled with the aroma of time-honored family meals and New York Yankees games. She died on March 22, 2020 at Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale during one of her regular visits to see her son, Tony Bonanzinga, of Davie. She was 85.
Mrs. Bonanzinga left her son with a wealth of recipes and an indelible memory of a day out at the ballpark watching her beloved Yanks play the Marlins in Jupiter on March 11. Two days later Major League Baseball suspended play.
“This is a woman who was on Joe DiMaggio’s radio show. She has pictures of herself with Joe DiMaggio. When she was three rows behind the dugout at Roger Dean Stadium, she turned to me and said, ‘I want to sleep here tonight,’ ” Tony says, laughing.
A few days later, Mrs. Bonanzinga slipped off a chair in the kitchen and broke her hip. Tony saw her just after the surgery, but the hospital was locked down the next day. She had gone in with a history of respiratory issues and died days later.
“She was just full of life. They say most people when they break their hip, the next stop is heaven. But I really thought she was going to be OK,” Tony says. “I think if this friggin’ virus wasn’t around, she’d be in the kitchen right now.”
After experiencing his own flu-like symptoms, Tony did not feel comfortable flying to Long Island to join his two sisters at their mother’s funeral. But the funeral home set up a webcam and a buddy took video — Tony saw what he needed to see.
“We actually got the casket in New York Yankee blue, and we had a Yankee blanket draped over the casket and a Yankee hat in the casket,” he says. “I mean, she was a Yankee.”
We will honor and remember Marie on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF THOM CARR (LEFT) - APRIL 15, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Thom Carr of Florida who died of COVID-19.
Thom Carr made friends around the world and at home, winning people over with his easy charm. On Wednesday, he became the third man to die from the new coronavirus after attending one of the nation’s biggest annual gay parties in March.
Carr, a Fort Lauderdale real estate agent and classical pianist, died more than three weeks after checking into the hospital. He was 67.
Carr and his husband, J. Heider, both tested positive for COVID-19 after attending the annual Winter Party Festival, a gathering that drew thousands of gay men from across the country to Miami Beach. Heider got better while Carr’s condition worsened.
A diabetic, he was admitted to the hospital on March 23 and rushed to the intensive-care unit.
“It is with overwhelming sadness that I share that our journey together has come to an end,” Heider said in Facebook post.
“For now, the parties, the cruises, the costume planning and trips together have come to an end. My memories from 35 years together, however, will never end.
Over the years and especially at this terrible time for the world, Thom brought us joy, music, his special creativity and talents. For that we can be grateful.”
At least 38 people who attended the weeklong fundraising event for the National LGBTQ Task Force have tested positive for the virus. Three, including Carr, have died.
“Our entire community will share in the remorse over his passing,” said Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis, a longtime friend of the couple. “His struggle to live equaled the passion he followed in life. He will be missed.”
Friend Donna Watson described Heider and Carr as a fun couple famous for their outlandish costumes.
“They would dress up for Halloween and on cruises and for gay events. High-end stuff. They just went all out,” she said.
Watson met the Fort Lauderdale couple 25 years ago at a business networking group.
“They had to sit together at the [group] breakfast every Thursday,” Watson said.
“They traveled the world together. They were inseparable. They knew how to love and live life as full as you can live it. They epitomized what a couple should be. To see that gone is just crushing."
We will honor and remember Thom on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF SGT. JOSE DIAZ AYALA - APRIL 4, 2020
IN MEMORY OF BARRY DOWNES - APRIL 5, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Barry Downes who died of COVID-19.
Downes worked was a customer service representative for AmericanAirlines for 22 years after immigrating to the United States in 1998.
His father, Timothy, described him as the kind of person who always looked out for others and said he was known as the person to contact if your travels accidentally left you stuck in South Florida — especially if you were a fellow Barbadian.
"He was truly the person to go above and beyond as his duty as a Barbadian to assist people that come to Florida or wherever you might be," he said. "It was an honor for me to be his dad."
Barry Downes was a recipient of the St Peter: We Gatherin’ 2020 Pride of Barbados Award and received the honor from Prime Minister Mia Mottley for service to his community in February.
He went to Barbados to check on his aunt before coming back to Florida on March 22 for doctors’ appointments, after dealing with complications from diabetes and high blood pressure. Downes was admitted to Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines on March 30 and tested positive for COVID-19 March 31.
Barry died April 5, 2020.
We will honor and remember Barry on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF DR. ALEX HSU - MARCH 24, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Dr. Alex Hsu of Florida who died of COVID-19.
The Broward doctor was in private practice until 2017 and had been associated with Northwest Medical Center in Margate.
Dr. Hsu's death from COVID-19 was the region’s first for a medical provider.
Roland More, a physician graduate, said on social media he did his clinical rotations under Hsu.
“A humanitarian in the greatest measure possible passed away too soon,” More wrote.
Dr. Hsu died March 24, 2020.
We will honor and remember Dr. Hsu on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF BERNIE DUKES - MARCH 31, 2020
IN MEMORY OF RALPH MONAHAN - MARCH 26, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Ralph Monahan who died of COVID-19
Ralph Monahan was a retired industrial arts teacher, spending 34 years with Buffalo Public Schools in New York. He was a Boy Scout leader for over 40 years. He and his wife, Robin, would split the year between Boynton Beach and Arcade, New York. Monahan was diabetic and “couldn’t fight it when he got it,” his widow said. Unable to find coronavirus testing when he became ill, Monahan posthumously tested positive for COVID-19.
“He was the kindest man I’ve ever met in my life,” Robin Monahan said. “He would do anything for anybody. His family was so important to him. He would drop anything for his grandkids if they needed it.” In addition to his wife, he’s survived by sons Eric and Mark. He died on March 26, 2020.
We will honor and remember Ralph on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF MARLEEN JOAN KOPACH - JAN. 14, 1936 - FEB. 6, 2021
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Marleen Joan Kopach who died of COVID-19.
Marleen Joan Kopach, age 85, of Wheatfield, formerly of Hobart, passed away Saturday, February 6, 2021. She was born January 14, 1936, one of three children, born to Clarence E. and Florentine (nee Wagener) Howell and raised in Hobart, IN.
Marleen was a 1954 graduate of Hobart High School and was a longtime member of Trinity Lutheran Church, active in the choir and Mother's Circle. Dedicated to serving others all of her life, Marleen worked at Millers Merry Manor in Hobart for nearly 17 years starting as a QMA (qualified medication aide) in 1990 then became activities aid in 1999, where she coordinated and facilitated activities for residents until her retirement in 2006. The residents and staff really loved her and said she always brought so much joy and laughter to everyone.
Marleen loved the outdoors and spending time fishing, camping, boating, waterskiiing, and going on trips with her family. She was an avid gardener with a green thumb, and always the first to plant spring flowers. She enjoyed watching and feeding the birds, especially hummingbirds and cardinals.
She also loved dancing and playing bunco and dice with her grandchildren. Marleen touched the lives of so many people with her beautiful smile, infectious laugh, generous heart, and beautiful spirit. She will be so deeply missed. Marleen was a caring and devoted wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother.
We will honor and remember Marleen on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF JAMES PICCIANO - JULY 15, 1931 - APRIL 01, 2020
IN MEMORY OF BEN, WHO WAS LIKE A PAPA - 11/07/30 - 01/18/21
This Memorial Square was sent to us by Jane and is in honor and memory of Ben who was like a Papa to Deborah. Ben died of COVID-19.
Jane writes: Hello. I am sending this on behalf of my friend Deborah. This square for the Covid Memorial Quilt honors Ben, who was like a father to Deborah.
Her photo of the flowers reminds her of Ben's love for Hawaii. She misses him dearly.
It is wonderful to see the meaningful squares made for individual people who have died from Covid-19.
Their being honored by other people who care about them and shared with the world is the beginning of our healing from this world tragedy.
Thank you for organizing this into a project that lets so many people participate.
We will honor and remember Papa on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF GEORGE BENDER - FEB 22, 1932 - MARCH 30, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of George Bender who died of COVID-19.
George John Bender was born in Bellflower, CA to John and Marie Bender who immigrated from the Netherlands in 1917. They settled in Venice, CA where George and his four siblings were raised. George met his high school sweetheart and the love of his life, Shirley Morris, at Venice High School, where they both graduated in the class of 1950. They were married in 1952, and after living in Hawthorne, CA they moved to Rancho Palos Verdes in 1963 and raised their four children.
George was a good son, brother, husband, father, friend, and neighbor. He took great pride in serving his country in the Air Force during the Korean War, working as a Firefighter for the Los Angeles Fire Department for thirty-one years, and establishing George Bender Plumbing in 1958. George enjoyed being an active member of the Palos Verdes Community by helping the Las Candalistas, serving on the Board of the Peninsula Symphony, and was a trained CERT volunteer.
Throughout his life, George enjoyed various physical activities, fishing, boating, scuba diving, water skiing, running marathons, playing tennis, and hiking, to name a few. He hiked Mount Whitney, and in August 2006, he hiked to the top of Yosemite's Half Dome. One of his greatest joys was hiking the trails, cliffs and shores of Palos Verdes, he truly loved and appreciated the natural beauty that surrounded him.
After Shirley's passing in 2004, George's 'neighborhood family' was his special family! They walked together every day, they loved spending time together, and they loved, cared for, and looked out for one another! George had been in declining health over the past couple of months, and unfortunately, in the end, was compromised by the COVID19 virus. George passed peacefully, knowing he was loved, admired, and appreciated.
We will honor and remember George on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF OTILIA LEVI - AUGUST 21, 1923 - MAY 23, 2020
IN MEMORY OF ALLEN DAVIAU - JUNE 14, 1942 - APRIL 15, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Allen Daviau who died of COVID-19.
Cinematographer Allen Daviau, who shot three of Steven Spielberg’s films including “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” has died. A representative from the American Society of Cinematographers said Wednesday that Daviau died Tuesday of complications from COVID-19. He was 77.
A five-time Oscar nominee, Daviau was also behind the camera on “Empire of the Sun,” “Bugsy,” “The Color Purple,” “Avalon” and “Defending Your Life.”
Spielberg said in a statement that, “Allen was a wonderful artist but his warmth and humanity were as powerful as his lens. He was a singular talent and a beautiful human being.” The director had sent a letter to his old friend upon hearing of his struggle with the virus that was read to him several times at his bedside.
ASC president Kees van Oostrum wrote in an email to members Wednesday that Daviau “Will be remembered fondly for his sense of humor, his taste for the best of foods and his laugh that unmistakably marked his presence from far away.”
A surgical procedure in 2012 left Daviau confined to a wheelchair, and he moved in to the a facility run by Motion Picture and Television Fund in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. He was receiving treatment at a nearby hospital for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, but was returned to the MPTF home to spend his final days, the facility’s President & CEO Bob Beitcher wrote in a remembrance.
Although he never won the Oscar, Daviau did win a BAFTA for his work on “Empire of the Sun,” which he said was his favorite film to work on, and in 2007 was awarded a lifetime achievement award from the American Society of Cinematographers.
He summed up his work in a humorous comment in 1987.
“The cinematographer’s unique perversity is that in this absolutely chaotic, screwed up, very imperfect work, within the frame everything’s perfect for an instant,” Daviau said.
We will honor and remember Allen on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF TERRENCE MCNALLY - DECEMBER 3,1938 - MARCH 24, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Terrence McNally who died of COVID-19.
Mr. McNally, who died of coronavirus complications, introduced audiences to characters and situations that most mainstream theater had previously shunted into comic asides.
Terrence McNally, the four-time Tony Award-winning playwright whose outpouring of work for the theater dramatized and domesticated gay life across five decades, died on Tuesday in Sarasota, Fla. He was 81.
The cause was complications of the coronavirus, according to his husband, Tom Kirdahy. Mr. McNally had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and had overcome lung cancer. He died at Sarasota Memorial Hospital.
Mr. McNally’s Tony Awards attest to his versatility. Two were for books for musicals, “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (1993) and “Ragtime” (1998), and two were for plays, and vastly different ones: “Love! Valour! Compassion!” (1995), about gay men who share a vacation house, and “Master Class” (1996), in which the opera diva Maria Callas reflects on her career.
And those prize winners were only a small part of his oeuvre. With some three dozen plays to his credit, as well as the books for 10 musicals, the librettos for four operas and a handful of screenplays for film and television, Mr. McNally was a remarkably prolific and consistent dramatist.
Mr. McNally told Vogue in 1995, “I still think that I win, hands down, the contest for worst first-play reviews — or any-play reviews.”
Michael Terrence McNally was born on Nov. 3, 1938, in St. Petersburg, Fla., where his parents, Hubert and Dorothy (Rapp) McNally, had a bar and grill on the beach. During World War II and just after, the family lived in Port Chester, N.Y., and his paternal grandfather would take him to the theater.
“I had a wonderful high school English teacher, Mrs. McElroy,” he said in the oral history, “who loved theater, made me and a few others really appreciate the English language and the use of it, and she really got us into Shakespeare.”
In a 2014 interview with The New York Times, Mr. McNally recalled an encounter at Stephen Sondheim’s 50th-birthday party in 1980 that helped him shed a personal demon, a turning point in his playwriting. He was drinking heavily at the time and had been for years.
“Then someone I hardly knew, Angela Lansbury, waved me over to where she was sitting,” he said. “And she said, ‘I just want to say, I don’t know you very well, but every time I see you, you’re drunk, and it bothers me.’ I was so upset. She was someone I revered, and she said this with such love and concern. I went to an A.A. meeting, and within a year, I had stopped drinking.”
Mr. McNally and Mr. Kirdahy were joined in a civil union in 2003 and married in 2010. He is also survived by a brother, Peter.
We will honor and remember Terrence on the Covid Memorial Quilt.
IN MEMORY OF ROSCOE 'SCOBY' TAYLOR, JR - JAN 7, 1954 - MARCH 29, 2020
IN MEMORY OF ALLEN GARFIELD - NOV 22, 1939 - APRIL 7, 2020
This Memorial Square is in honor and memory of Allen Garfield who died of COVID-19.
Allen Garfield, a veteran character actor who was a vital player in classic 1970s films including “The Conversation” and “Nashville,” has died at a rest home in Los Angeles of complications from COVID-19.
Garfield’s sister, Lois Goorwitz, said he died Tuesday at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital, the industry retirement facility where several staffers and some residents have tested positive for the virus. The actor was 80.
The Newark, N.J.-born Garfield first set out as a boxer and a sportswriter. While covering sports for New Jersey’s Star-Ledger, he studied acting at night and eventually joined the Actors Studio. There, he studied under Lee Strasberg.
“I became an actor in order to be trained by the masters, which I was, at the Actors Studio,” Garfield said. “From the moment I stepped foot in the Actors Studio, I audaciously stepped out and said who I was, for better or for worse. I put my stamp on things as an actor and as a director.”
Garfield would become a supporting-player mainstay of some of the best films of the ‘70s, including Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation”; “The Candidate,” with Robert Redford; Robert Altman’s “Nashville”; Woody Allen’s “Bananas”; Billy Wilder’s “The Front Page”; William Friedkin’s “The Brink’s Job”; and Richard Rush’s “The Stunt Man.”
Garfield often played talky, anxious characters — salesmen, corrupt businessmen and sweaty politicians. They were universally authentic, so much so that Garfield often went underappreciated. In “The Conversation,” he played the weaselly surveillance expert Bernie Moran, a rival to Gene Hackman’s character. Coppola would cast him again in “One From the Heart” and “The Cotton Club.”
In “Nashville,” Garfield played the manager and husband of Ronee Blakly’s country star, Barbara Jean. He plays the furious police chief in 1987’s “Beverly Hills Cop II” who goes on an expletive-laden tirade against Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold and John Ashton before he gets fired himself.
Garfield, born Allen Goorwitz on Nov. 22, 1939, had suffered several strokes, including one shortly before filming Roman Polanski’s “The Ninth Gate” in 1999 and one in 2004 that led to his residence at the Motion Picture & Television Fund home in Woodland Hills.
We will honor and remember Allen on the Covid Memorial Quilt.