Help us tell the stories of those who died from coronavirus
The Las Vegas Review-Journal is still working to recognize each person in our community who has died from the coronavirus, and we need your help.
Since March, Clark County officials and the county coroner’s office have refused to identify victims of COVID-19. They initially named the county’s first four victims, then stopped.
In the absence of official information, Review-Journal reporters have sifted through personal obituaries and social media remembrance posts, reaching out to grieving friends and relatives who graciously agreed to share their stories.
But friends and relatives have also come directly to the newspaper, submitting personal accounts of love and loss through a form on our website, which you can find at reviewjournal.com/covid-stories.
It can be hard to get your thoughts down — to summarize a life. So a reporter will always call or email you back, ready to listen.
Through those submissions, the paper has been able to memorialize several lives lost, including that of Luis A. Frias, a onetime international dancer and devoted father who — after traveling the world with his young family to perform — settled down in Las Vegas, eventually becoming a grandfather of six.
We also memorialized the lives of Rosemarie Franzese, a retired hairstylist and protective older sister who worked part time as an elementary school crossing guard, and Gerry Mandel, a loving father and longtime pharmacist who hoped the world would soon see a vaccine.
There are so many more stories to tell. More than 330 people had died of the coronavirus in Clark County as of Wednesday afternoon — the majority of the more than 400 deaths Nevada has seen statewide.
If you know someone who has died of COVID-19 and would like to share their story, you can submit it through our form. If you have any questions, you can also email reporters at covidstories@reviewjournal.com.
Contact Rachel Crosby at rcrosby@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3801. Follow @rachelacrosby on Twitter.