Ten Awesome People We’ve Lost to COVID-19

This is Part One of a Four-Part Series Honoring the Lives We’ve Lost to COVID-19

Part Two: We Continue to Mourn Needless Deaths
Part Three: Kids We’ve Lost to COVID-19
Part Four: We Failed Our Most Essential

With deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic reaching nearly 100,000 in the U.S. alone (and more than 325,000 worldwide, as of May 20, 2020), it is impossible to give each and every life lost the acknowledgement it deserves. Obituary writers are overwhelmed, and traditionally published newspapers are running page after page of obituaries in the hardest-hit parts of the country and the world.

For those whose loved ones died from COVID-19, many were unable to say goodbye in person, often giving their farewells and last rites via apps like FaceTime. Because of travel restrictions, social distancing rules, and overwhelmed morgues, if a funeral is held, it is a modest affair, attended by only a few mourners in person, and with others there only in spirit or by streaming app.

Increasingly, we are turning to the Internet to share the stories of those we’ve lost, when pages (and pages) of obituaries are insufficient. Here are some of the publications that are compiling the records and stories of people who have died due to COVID-19.

Those We’ve Lost (The New York Times)
The Lives Lost to Coronavirus (Time)
Faces of the Dead (The Washington Post)
Lost on the Frontline (Kaiser Health News and The Guardian)
News Obituaries: Lives Lost to COVID-19 (Legacy.com)
Remembering Those in Connecticut That We’ve Lost to Coronavirus (Hartford Courant)
The People We’ve Lost (in the Philadelphia region, The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Remembering the Coloradans Lost to Coronavirus (The Colorado Sun)
Florida Coronavirus: Obituaries (Orlando Sentinel)

It may be impossible to acknowledge, celebrate, and mourn all of the lives lost, but here are ten of them. These ten Americans, all relatively young, lived lives of kindness, achievement, generosity, and sacrifice. They died decades too early and represent only 1/10,000 of the Americans we’ve lost to the pandemic—0.01%.

Marylou Armer, 43, Santa Rosa Police Detective, California

Marylou Armer was the first California police officer to die from COVID-19 after being denied testing for the novel coronavirus multiple times. She was a 20-year member of the Santa Rosa Police Department, wife and stepmother, and worked as a detective for the department’s Domestic Violence Sexual Assault Team. She was known for her kind spirit, thoughtfulness, and her gentle and empathetic conduct when helping victims of abuse and their families. You can read more about Marylou here and here. She was memorialized with a miles-long procession of law enforcement vehicles and recognized by California Governor Gavin Newsom in a statement and with flags at the state Capitol flown at half-staff.

Idris Bey, 60, NYC Emergency Worker, New York

Idris Bey served in the United States Marine Corp, and as an EMT, he responded to the rescue and recovery efforts at Ground Zero following the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. He was a 27-year veteran of the NYFD’s Emergency Medical Services bureau and the eighth member of the New York Fire Department to die from COVID-19. He was known as a popular and engaging instructor at the NYFD’s Fort Totten Academy. He was an avid reader, an observant Muslim, and the father of four. Read more about Idris here, here, and here.

Valentina Blackhorse, 28, Navajo Pageant Winner, New Mexico

The Navajo Nation has been hit especially hard by the pandemic, and that is no more apparent than in the loss of the young mother Valentina Blackhorse. Valentina was a member of the Navajo Nation and had won numerous pageants, including Miss Western Navajo. She aspired to be a Navajo leader and leaves behind a 1-year-old daughter. Read more about Valentina here and here. NPR speaks with her sister, Vanielle Blackhorse, here.

Lorena Borjas, 59, Transgender Immigrant Activist, New York

As reported by the New York Times, “When transgender women in Queens needed a safe place to be tested for H.I.V., Lorena Borjas turned her home into a clinic. When others were arrested and charged with prostitution, she bailed them out. When some faced deportation after an arrest, she created a nonprofit group to arrange for their legal representation.” As an immigrant transgender woman herself, Lorena drew on her own experiences as she worked tirelessly to help others as an activist, fundraiser, and community organizer. Originally born in Mexico City, she immigrated to the U.S. at age 20 and earned her citizenship in 2019. Read more about Lorena here, here, and here.

Sean Boynes, 46, Pharmacist, Maryland

Sean Boynes managed a pharmacy in Greenbelt, Maryland. He was a graduate of Howard University, a college football player, former U.S. Air Force captain, husband, and father of two young daughters. He helped to start a pharmacy at the AbsoluteCare health clinic, to make sure the patients had access to quality care. He kept working during the pandemic despite his increased risk as an asthmatic, determined not to abandon his patients in need. Read more about Sean here and here. Sean was one of dozens of American healthcare workers who have died of COVID-19. Their stories are here.

April Dunn, 33, Disability Rights Activist, Louisiana

April Dunn was a disability rights activist who was denied a high school degree because she was unable to take standardized tests. She spent her adult years advocating on behalf of other people with disabilities and helped pass Act 833 to provide an alternative pathway to a high school degree for disabled students so they aren’t shut-out of future employment for which they are qualified. Read more about April here and here. She was a staffer for Governor John Bel Edwards who remembers her here.

Jason Hargrove, 50, Detroit Bus Driver, Michigan

On March 21, Detroit bus driver Jason Hargrove posted a Facebook Live video, expressing anger that a passenger on his bus coughed openly without covering her mouth, endangering him and the other passengers in the middle of a pandemic. Eleven days later he died of COVID-19, leaving his wife, Desha Johnson-Hargrove, to mourn his passing. He is one of many public service and blue collar workers who have gotten sick and died because of insufficient PPE and having to work in close proximity to a public that is not taking the pandemic as seriously as they should. Read more about Jason here and here. Fellow bus driver Eric Colts speaks about his friend Jason and his own COVID-19 experiences here.

Brian R. Miller, 52, Educator at the Rehabilitation Services Administration, Virginia

Brian R. Miller was born with defective retinas and was one of the first blind students to attend public school in California alongside sighted students. He graduated from San Diego State University with a degree in political science and earned his master’s and a PHD in history at the University of Iowa. He worked at the Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration where he helped students with disabilities. He spoke four languages fluently and traveled the world, hoping to visit 100 countries before he died. He made it to 65. Read more about Brian here, here, and here.

Jana Prince, 43, Social Worker, Louisiana

Jana Prince had cerebral palsy but her disability didn’t stop her from dedicating her life to helping people. She was a social worker with strong community ties and an employment history that included the Metropolitan Human Services, Archdiocese of New Orleans, Covenant House, and, most recently, the Salvation Army. Tragically, Jana’s mother, Barbara Prince, and uncle William Davis, have also died from COVID-19. Read more about Jana here and here.

Dez-Ann Romain, 36, Brooklyn Principal, New York

Dez-Ann Romain was principal of the Brooklyn Democracy Academy, a transfer high school for students 16 and older who had struggled at traditional high schools. She was the first New York City public school employee known to have died from COVID-19, and she passed away just one week after NYC schools closed. She was known for her vibrancy, tough-love approach, and for making time for one-on-one talks with students and staff. Her own experiences as a low-income Caribbean migrant to Queens helped her connect with students who faced many of the same struggles she had in her teenage years. Read more about Dez-Ann here and here.

Read about them. Celebrate the lives they lived. Mourn what their family, friends, community, and country have lost. They are more than the 0.01%.