It’s been one year since the first Greene County resident died of COVID-19. Since March 23, 2020, a total of 422 Greene County residents has died of the illness.
At a press briefing Tuesday, family members of three of those people remembered their loved ones.
Tom Gammon talked about his wife, Joyce, who died June 16.
"She loved her family," he said. "She was a gregarious person who rarely met a stranger."
The 67-year-old had recently retired from The Kitchen, Inc., and her husband said she had a huge heart for the homeless.
Shelley Thornton remembered her dad, Warren Findley, who died of COVID-19 last September at age 77. She said he loved supporting local businesses and local bands.
"You could always count on him to know which bands were playing at which venue each night, who had the best karaoke in town, which place was showing the big game and when and maybe...their appetizer deals as well," said Thornton.
She said her dad was always on the go and never met a stranger.
Angela Hughes almost lost her life to COVID-19 when she, her kids and her mom, Beckey Hughes-Lundholm, gathered in Texas to celebrate her grandfather’s 90th birthday. Hughes-Lundholm was in Texas caring for her father. A family member who attended the gathering dismissed his symptoms as a cold, said Hughes, and didn’t wear a mask.
"That one person's beliefs forever altered out lives when he made the decision to visit while sick," she said.
Her mom tested positive July 9 and died July 21, two weeks after her 67th birthday.
All three urged everyone to honor those who died by continuing to take steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to get the vaccine.
