STATE

Pritzker at memorial for COVID-19 victims: ‘We need each other’

Brenden Moore
bmoore@sj-r.com
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker speaks during a memorial service to honor those who have lost their lives to COVID-19 and their families at First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Ill., Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020.

Gov. JB Pritzker joined with faith leaders at a memorial in Springfield Wednesday evening dedicated to the 8,214 Illinois residents who have died from complications to COVID-19 and their families.

The socially-distanced event, hosted at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Springfield, featured families from across the state who have lost loved ones to the virus.

Pritzker and faith leaders assembled said they hoped to offer a moment for Illinois residents to take a step back and process their “individual and collective” grief.

“Let's allow this pandemic to remind us of at least one important thing: We need each other. We need each other,” Pritzker said.

Mixed in with prayer and words meant to comfort were anecdotes from the loved ones of those who have passed.

Erica Edwards described the connection with her aunt Maureen Curry as closer to a “mother-daughter relationship.”

Curry, 59, a Taylorville resident, passed away from COVID-19 on Aug. 6.

Edwards said Curry was known for “completing these random acts anonymously with no expectation of being acknowledged for it,” such as sending letters and $50 bills to widows, placing flowers on random gravestones and sending housewarming baskets to new neighbors.

“Because of Maureen, everyone will be 10 times a better person than we would have been without her,” Edwards said. “Because of Maureen, I will treat everyone no matter the color of their skin, social status, looks, religion or beliefs, with civility, respect and love. Because of Maureen, we should all give people second chances no matter what they have done to us. Because of Maureen, I will love everyone because who knows who’ll be gone when time comes tomorrow.”

Don Welge, 84, of Chester, president and CEO of food manufacturer Gilster-Mary Lee, died in April from complications of the virus. His son, Tom, said “he was able to stay at the work he loved full speed right up to the end of his life.”

“It's the way he would have written his own story, I'm sure,” Welge said.

Tom Welge said the family misses him every day, but said he would want them and everyone to face the challenge of COVID-19 head-on.

“Like many great sales people and entrepreneurs, dad was an eternal optimist,” Welge said. “He loved people. He had an unlimited faith in what we could accomplish together. On neighborhood problems or regional and national issues he worked with people he always agreed with and those he seldom did. He understood the importance of solving the bigger issues as a community of citizens.”

“Don Welge would expect us to come together and listen to each other, sacrifice where we must, support each other where we can and come out together on the other side of this difficult time,” he said.

Pritzker, speaking last, said Illinois residents echoed this point.

“The hearts of our people are big enough to hold both of those truths at once — that we are courageous enough to meet this moment and that we're human enough to grieve about it,” Pritzker said.

Contact Brenden Moore: brenden.moore@sj-r.com, twitter.com/brendenmoore13.

Erica Edwards speaks about her aunt, Maureen Curry,  during a memorial service to honor those who have lost their lives to COVID-19 and their families at First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Ill., Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020.