CLARKSDALE, Miss. — Local government in Clarksdale, Mississippi held a memorial Friday to remember friends and family lost to COVID-19.
The rationale behind the memorial was simple — honor and affection for people’s lives, not just data shoved into a file cabinet or posted on to a website, one official said.
Clarksdale officials and citizens set up 56 flags in front of city hall, one for every Coahoma County resident who has been lost to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It is very difficult to see so many lives lost,” Mayor Chuck Espy said. “It is indeed an honor to highlight the memories today.”
Nobody was more affected than military veteran and Clarksdale native Roosevelt Lee. H came to honor his beloved wife, taken too soon by the virus.
“I miss her,” Lee said. “I’ve learned to lean on the Lord and move on with my life.”
Friday’s memorial won’t bring anyone back, but it was a way for Coahoma County residents to mourn together, to sympathize with others that had been through a heart-breaking experience. They came together through sadness, but with gratitude.
“I can’t think of enough words to say concerning it, other than I’m just overjoyed that I was able to be one of the participants,” Lee said.
The state of Mississippi has reported nearly 6,000 COVID-19-related deaths to this point.
