Those We Lost
A year later, pandemic deaths leave an unfillable void
Connecticut reported its first case of COVID-19 on March 8, 2020. In the year since, we've lost grandparents, mothers, fathers, siblings and friends.
GALLERIES: Those We Lost
North Stonington native saw strangers as future friends
Published April 1, 2021
Irene Johnson died due to COVID-19 last year at the age of 93. Family members say she was a throwback, the genuine article, a salt-of-the-earth matriarch whose influence on those she met spanned generations.
Day staff dedicates this week's Storyline podcast to those we lost to COVID-19
In this week's edition of The Storyline podcast, you'll hear the voices of Day staff members reading one-sentence obituaries they wrote about people from our region who died from complications of COVID-19.
Those We Lost: Jude Ebbinghaus
Published February 28, 2021
Jude Ebbinghaus of Groton touched the lives of thousands of children and adults through reading.
Norwich couple died together but alone
Published February 13, 2021
Richard and Maybelle Johnson, married 70 years, died Jan. 13, just hours apart, from complications due to COVID-19.
New London civil rights champion dies of COVID-19
Published January 29, 2021
Waldren T. 'Pokey' Phillips, a longtime judicial marshal, received a lifetime achievement award from the NAACP in 2017 for his work to combat discrimination and hate in the local community.
MORE STORIES: Those We Lost
Those We Lost: Uncasville man served in Navy, taught at Norwich Tech
Those We Lost: Santo "Sam" Sperazza, a Navy veteran and former Norwich Tech teacher, died on Dec. 27, 2020. He was 88.
Those We Lost: Korean War veteran celebrated for his kindness, wit and optimism
Published January 23, 2021
Healthy and vibrant at 92, Carmen Langello was taken too soon by COVID-19, family says.
Family recalls Waterford man as life of the party
Published January 23, 2021
Billy Lewis never shied away from a microphone or a dance. He was known for his off-the-cuff speeches at weddings and other events and for his ability to take over a dance floor.
Longtime Preston first selectman remembered for steady resolve, great cooking
Published January 15, 2021
Parke Spicer, 83, who served as first selectman from 1983 to 1995 and held numerous other town positions, died Jan. 8 of pneumonia brought on by COVID-19, his family says.
Montville deputy fire chief, EMT wife die of COVID-19 just weeks apart
Their deaths have brought an outpouring support from town residents as well as from emergency workers outside of town.
Waterford couple who died of COVID-19 had lifelong, whirlwind romance
Published December 31, 2020
BJ and Ramona Frasher died just days apart in December. They were residents of Greentree Manor.
Mystic couple parted by COVID-19, which took one, left the other behind
Published September 17, 2020
Both Bettye and Robert Beard contracted COVID-19 in May. She died from the disease but he survived.
Those We Lost: 'In the Village' author Anthony Bailey dies of COVID-19
Published May 30, 2020
The longtime New Yorker staffer, who wrote maritime nonfiction, artist biographies and a highly-regarded book on life in Stonington Borough in the 1960s, died of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Those we Lost: Helen Hine, 99, a nurse with 'an irrepressible sense of humor'
Published May 30, 2020
Hine died May 21, about a month after getting COVID-19. She was living at Bride Brook Health and Rehabilitation Center at the time of her death.
Those We Lost: A video goodbye for Uncasville man
Published May 9, 2020
Warren Rogers Sr., 88, died of COVID-19 on April 30.
Those We Lost: 'They don't make men like this anymore'
Published May 9, 2020
Thomas Bly of Quaker Hill died of complications from COVID-19 on May 5, the day before his 88th birthday.
Those We Lost: At 79, he'd just finished rebuilding his boat engine when he tested positive for COVID-19. Then he died.
Published May 9, 2020
"At first, he thought 'I’m healthy. I’m busy. I’ll be fine.' Little by little, it started wearing him down more and more,” Mary-Lou Brockett Devine said of her father, Paul who died recently from COVID-19.