Showing just how close-knit the dance community is, a dance studio helped to organize a unique memorial for a London, Ont., father who died of the novel coronavirus.
Ron Holliday, 60, died “suddenly at home” on Friday, April 3, according to his obituary. He leaves behind his wife and his teenage triplet daughters, who train with Jo Read Dance studio.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, a service will be held “at a later date.”
Local dance studio Jo Read Dance wanted to make sure that the girls know they are not alone, and organized a memorial that saw vehicles lining up the street to stop in front of their home, one by one.
“We had over 80 families involved, all pulling up in front of the Hollidays’ house, one family at a time came out to their cars to hold signs, place memorial rocks in their garden, all while the three girls stood in the window with masks on watching while their mom was isolated in another room in the house,” Jo Read Dance director Pam Cavaliere told Global News.
“It was heart-wrenching.”
The event was held from 1 to 3 p.m. on Sunday.
“The support from our families at Jo Read Dance was overwhelming,” Cavaliere added.
In the obituary, the family requested that those looking to make a donation in memory of Holliday consider the London Health Sciences Foundation’s COVID-19 Response Fund.