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Adam Walker, funeral director at Conroy-Tully Walker Funeral Homes, is photographed in the chapel in South Portland, ME on Tuesday, May 5, 2020. Walker created “Hugs from Home,” where funeral and wake attendees, who cannot attend in-person due to COVID-19 guidelines limiting the number of people for a gathering, can send notes that are attached to balloons on the day of the wake or funeral. Photo by Yoon S. Byun.

The Last Responders

ABOUT THIS SERIES

Along with provoking a pandemic, COVID-19 triggered a grief epidemic. It robbed families of final goodbyes, left loved ones to die with strangers, postponed wakes and funerals. And it overwhelmed Maine’s “Last Responders” — priests, chaplains, funeral directors and hospice workers — who had to work around restrictions aimed at diminishing virus infections. Go on an emotional journey into the lives of families who lost loved ones and the Last Responders forced to find new ways to console and comfort.

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The coronavirus pandemic’s last responders – Maine’s priests, chaplains, funeral directors and hospice workers − say the highly infectious virus has upended how they do their jobs.

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wedding photo of Houlton couple who died of COVID-19

Together, to the compassionate end

A pastor and his wife, both suffering from COVID-19, were together through the final moments of a half-century marriage because of the efforts of a loving doctor and a do-what-it-takes Houlton hospital.
ByBarbara A. Walsh
December 20, 2020

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