A new memorial to honour the lives of community members lost to COVID-19 has been unveiled in Vancouver’s West End.
The memorial, located at a bus stop near the intersection of Davie and Thurlow streets, includes a photo of Samantha Monckton and her father, who died in April after contracting the novel coronavirus.
Garry Monckton, who was blind and also suffered from dementia, lived at Haro Park Centre and was a longtime resident of the West End.
Samantha says she played “Blue Moon” and “When the Saints Go Marching In” on the trumpet for her 77-year-old father outside his long-term-care facility because she couldn’t visit him during his final days.
“My dad would have been really pleased to have been honoured like this,” she said Tuesday.
She said the poster is a reminder of the precautions people should take to stop the spread of the virus.
“Let’s just wear a mask and get this over with so we don’t have any more casualties like my dad,” she said.
British Columbia has lost more than 200 people to COVID-19. Nearly 20 of those deaths have been in the West End, according to the West End Seniors’ Network.
— With files from The Canadian Press