A Year Of Loss: COVID-19 Has Killed More Than 4,500 Chicagoans. For These Families, Life Will Never Be The Same
It’s been one year since coronavirus was found in Chicago. The virus killed more than 4,500 people in that time. Block Club tells the story of 27 victims whose loss has forever changed our city.
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Photos show Curtis Bamberg Sr., who died from COVID-19. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Coronavirus came to Chicago one year ago.
Though it’s likely the virus had been circulating in Chicago for longer, the first case was found Jan. 24, 2020. Since then, more than 229,000 people have become sick with COVID-19 here, and the virus has killed more than 4,500 Chicagoans.
In Chicago, the virus has killed people as young as 9 months and as old as 109 years. They were fathers, daughters, mechanics, talented dancers and more, beloved by family and friends.
Every community in Chicago has been touched by this loss.
Block Club spoke to the families and friends of 27 COVID-19 victims from across the city about what made their loved one special and what we have all lost through their death.
These stories cannot show the true pain experienced by thousands of families and friends throughout Chicago. But we hope they can give you a glimpse of what COVID-19 has taken from us and our communities during this Year of Loss.
Margie Rodriguez’s family said the city no longer has someone who could light up the room with her humor and bright red lipstick. She volunteered for years in Humboldt Park.
Larry Griffin would take displaced people into his Washington Heights home until they got back on their feet. His wife and children miss him.
Jose Cornejo was known for random acts of kindness, like chasing after the mailwoman to make sure she had cold water on hot summer days in West Elsdon.
“It’s a huge void that he left. It’s not a minor thing. He left and he will always be remembered,” said Jose’s sister, Blanca Cornejo. “I just want people to know that he was here and his life mattered to his family and to his friends.”
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Larry Griffin, 67, died from COVID-19 on Nov. 21. His wife, Jacqueline Griffin, holds their wedding photo in their home on Jan. 18, 2021. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
They were married for 25 years, raising their children together and traveling. “I never worried about if he loved me,” she said. “He loved me from the beginning to the end.”
Raymundo Salazar, 83, died from COVID-19 on July 3. On Jan. 18, 2021, his wife, Maria, and son, Ray, pose for portraits outside Aragon Ballroom in Uptown, where Raymundo and Maria went on their first New Year’s Eve together in 1967. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Maria Salazar loved Raymundo from the time she was 14. Now, their family is trying to navigate life without him after his death from COVID-19 at age 83.
Alnita Williams poses in her Pullman home on Jan.13, 2021, with photographs of her husband, Curtis Bamberg Sr., who died from COVID-19. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Curtis Bamberg, 73, died of coronavirus. “He was a man that did not give up easy. He stayed on the path, and when he started anything — anything he set out to do, he accomplished it.”
Carole McManus holds her wedding photo in her North Park condo on Jan. 14, 2021. She was married to Russell “Mike” McManus, who died from COVID-19. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
When Russell McManus wasn’t tinkering with car parts, he built radio-controlled model airplanes he would fly with his children. He died from COVID-19 in April.
Calderon, 57, raised three children, took care of her aging relatives and opened her door to neighbors and strangers in need, her family said. Her beloved husband, Vicente, died just weeks before she did.
Jim Wlodarczyk, 61, died from COVID-19 on May 31, 2020. His wife, Sherrie, holds their wedding photo in their Portage Park home on Jan. 15, 2021. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Jim Wlodarczyk, 61, was in good spirits and caring for his sick family before he suddenly took a turn for the worse and died in the hospital May 31. He’s survived by his wife and daughters.
Darnell Jones, 55, of Englewood, died from COVID-19 on Dec. 3, 2020. His sister, Elois Thompson, showed his obituary at her home in Joliet on Jan. 20, 2021. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Photographs of the late Rose Marie Zahn Perkins, who died from COVID-19, in her Lincoln Square neighborhood home on Jan. 14, 2021. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Rose Marie Perkins loved scouring garage and rummage sales and couldn’t pass up a good deal. “She’d say, ‘It was only a quarter, so I had to bring it home.’”
Rogelio Cuevas, 64, had a giving heart and adored his family. “I felt loved and spoiled … like an explosion of love that I would feel for him. If you needed something … he will give it to you.”
Jose Cornejo, who died from COVID-19 at 71, was known for random, simple acts of kindness. He’d chase after a mailwoman so he could give her water on hot summer days — and was always there for his family. “His life mattered.”
Margie Rodriguez, 101, died of COVID-19 on April 14. Her daughter, Lourdes Roberts, and grandson, Ian Roberts, hold a framed photograph of Rodrigues celebrating the Chicago Cubs’s World Series win in 2016 outside their Irving Park home Jan. 17, 2021. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Margie Rodriguez, 101 when she died from coronavirus, loved to make everyone laugh, was always up for an adventure and loved singing with her friends and family.
Rhoda Jean Hatch died of COVID-19 on April 1. Her sister, Jennie Hatch, nephew, Rev. Marshall Hatch Jr., and brother, Rev. Marshall Hatch Sr., posed for portraits inside the New Mount Pilgrim MB Church in Garfield Park on Jan. 18, 2021. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Rhoda Jean Hatch, 73, was the oldest of eight siblings and was first in her family to go to college. She became an educator and her family’s historian, even finding a relative who fought in the Civil War.
Nikki Shepard, 44, fought to bring joy and light to her family every day, despite living with a chronic illness. “People didn’t realize that when she went out on the dance floor for the kids, she could barely walk the next day.”
Bob Brieske, 70, cheated death a few times, making it through the Vietnam War, a bad motorcycle crash and a heart attack. But “the beast of COVID took him down,” his wife said.
Bill Griffin, 88, was the longest-serving vendor at Wrigley Field and died from COVID-19 on May 16. Photographed on Jan. 21, 2021, is an image made during the filming of 1993’s “Rookie Of The Year,” where Griffin had a cameo as a third base coach. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Bill Griffin, 88, was the longest-serving vendor in Wrigley Field history. The people he met at Cubs games became like family, helping “Griff” in old age.
Mauricio Valdivia, 52, lost his life to COVID-19 on April 9, 2020. Photographed is his brother, Jorge Valdivia, showing family images for photographs in his Pilsen apartment on January 14, 2021. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Muhammad Saleh Abdur-Rahman, 60, grew up an outsider in Mt. Greenwood. He found purpose in West Ridge, whose Muslim community helped his family after his untimely death.
Larry Arnold, 70, lost his life to COVID-19 on March 31, 2020. His family showed some of his old photographs in the family’s South Shore home on January 21, 2021. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Nickolas Lee, 42, died of COVID-19 on April 12 in Cook County Jail. His wife, Cassandra Greer-Lee, and other activists gather near the jail to demand better treatment for prisoners, as seen on Jan. 17, 2021. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Nickolas Lee was never convicted of the crime with which he was charged. He died in jail from COVID-19. Now, his and his wife’s dreams for the future are gone — but she’s fighting for others locked up during the pandemic.
Lillie B. Merrill, 98, died from COVID-19 on April 25, 2020. Her daughters, Charlette and Josette, pose for photographs in the Englewood home that’s been in the Merrill family since 1955. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Lillie Merrill, 98, was a fiercely independent Englewood mother with a heart as big as her wardrobe. After suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, she contracted coronavirus and died in April.
Henley, 70, who always had a fresh hairstyle and was adored by her goddaughter and friends, died this fall from coronavirus. “She had the biggest heart and was always smiling, so happy to see you.”
Jaroslaw Hankewych, 77, died of COVID-19 on November 04, 2020. Photographed on January 21, 2021 is an image of Hankewych posed outside the St Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Jaroslaw “Jerry” Hankewych emigrated from Ukraine to Chicago in the wake of World War II. Over the next several decades, he’d be a resource for other immigrants in Ukrainian Village until his death from coronavirus at 77.
Surayya Fahim, 69, died of COVID-19 on April 22, 2020. Her son, Raqaq Alebiosu, and daughter, Eynnu Fahim, hold Surayya’s urns on Jan. 17, 2021. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
The family of the late Jose Miguel Vazquez poses outside Charles R Darwin Public School on January 13, 2021 for photographs in remembrance of Jose, who lost his life to COVID-19. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago
Jose Miguel Vazquez died at the end of March. His family wonders if he would’ve survived had he caught the virus later on in the pandemic. “Even at the hospitals, they weren’t sure what to do,” his wife said.
Rafaela Castillo, 89, died from coronavirus. During a long life in Chicago, she was known for helping her neighbors in whatever way she could and holding her family together.
Coronavirus was first found in Chicago on Jan. 24, 2020. In the year since, the virus has killed more than 4,500 Chicagoans. Block Club is remembering victims from across the city with our series, A Year of Loss.
