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.

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A wedding photo of Dan and Carol Lynn Blevins.

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.

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