She grew up in the San Diego area, where she took part in a police department explorer program as a teenager. Her latest assignment was working for the city’s domestic violence and sexual assault team. She was a thoughtful and committed public servant who loved helping people and loved the people she worked with.”Īrmer began with the department as a field evidence technician in 1999 and went on to become a sworn officer in 2008. “Marylou was always proactive and there with a smile. “Marylou was a bright light in this organization,” Navarro said in a video statement. The detective tested positive for COVID-19 in early March and died on March 31, leaving behind her husband and daughter. Acknowledging these circumstances, local officials described Armer’s death as occurring in the line of duty. Law enforcement officers throughout the country have been struck by the virus, as they have continued to go to work amid the pandemic. “She exude the professionalism and the character that I think every person in our department carries.”

“Marylou made a difference, as a detective and as a person,” Santa Rosa Police Chief Rainer Navarro told the Sonoma Index-Tribune. The campaign creator, Rhoda Asiedu, wrote “it is humane for us to take care of them in every way we can during this heavy and trying time.” She added, “we will forever miss you.” - Melissa Godin Marylou Armer Since her passing, a GoFundMe page for Agyapong’s family and newborn child has raised more than $200,000 by April 17. Agyapong contracted the virus and whether she had any pre-existing medical conditions that put her at higher risk While working, she had not been treating COVID-19 patients. “Mary worked here for five years and was a highly valued and loved member of our team, a fantastic nurse and a great example of what we stand for in this Trust,” David Carter, CEO of Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said in a statement.Īgyapong completed her last shift on March 12 and had not returned to work in the subsequent weeks. Agyapong’s husband is currently self-isolating and has been tested for COVID-19. Her daugher, who was named Mary in memory of her mother, is “doing very well” according to hospital officials. Agyapong underwent an emergency C-section shortly after she was admitted, and gave birth to a baby girl. Wherever she went she made friends, and she never neglected to keep in touch with them.įirefighters and hospital staff at the Luton and Dunstable University Hospital in Luton, England held a minute of silence on April 16, after 28-year-old Mary Agyeiwaa Agyapong-a pregnant nurse who worked at the hospital-died of COVID-19 while her baby was saved.Īgyapong, who also went by her married name, Mary Boateng, tested positive for COVID-19 on April 5 and was hospitalized two days later. My mom was one of those people that just drew others to her. She loved to laugh, joke and get together with her many friends. But though her hands and joints would flare up periodically, nothing would stop her from making her children’s favorite foods when they visited or hugging and holding her granddaughter tight. This meant she was immunocompromised and part of a population that is especially vulnerable to this disease. My mom had also been fighting rheumatoid arthritis for many years. Nine days later she lost her battle to COVID-19. All we could do for the mom who gave us everything is tell her how much we loved her and hope that somehow, she could hear us. On a day when we would usually shower her with gifts and take her out to lunch, my family huddled around our phones and tablets as the nurse showed her to us over video chat. This Mother’s Day, my mom was sedated and on a ventilator.

Let’s think of them with wet eyes and a high heart.

These are just some of the people who have been taken from us, even as they have left us much to remember them by. It’s not comprehensive, nor is it meant to be. That’s the goal of this list: to acknowledge the remarkable and joyful lives of some of those we have lost.

Maybe we can be better at celebrating life even as we’re saddened by its loss. But we all, at one time or another, have reason to mourn. We have no roadmap for this new territory. It’s a book of large truths disguised as small ones: “I remember,” he writes, “those times of not knowing if you feel really happy or really sad. In his jubilant and revivifying memoir, I Remember, the artist and writer Joe Brainard tabulated all the little things that can come to shape how we think about life. There can always be at least a glimmer of joy in remembering things that people gave us while they were here.

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