Profiles of a pandemic: Western New Yorkers lost to Covid-19

James Little loved it whenever he shared a shift with John Poleon at the Buffalo General Medical Center, reverence he boils down to a thought Little knows his colleagues would embrace.

“In a lot of ways,” he said, “it was like working with your grandpa.”

Joan Neudecker hated to get sick, her daughter said, largely because it kept her from the work she loved, caring for patients at the McAuley Residence in Kenmore.

But in late April, Neudecker tested positive for Covid-19, her daughter Kathryn Kitchen said. She suspects, as her mother did, that she caught it at work.

As an 82-year-old woman who battled emphysema and lung cancer, the Rev. Barbara Jane Herling was fearful of catching coronavirus.

But that is exactly what happened to her last month, and several days after being diagnosed with Covid-19, Herling, a spiritualist minister from Depew, was dead.

Everywhere he went, he brought a little magic with him.

That’s how family members remember Edward Barszcz, a longtime math teacher, magician, traveler and adventurer who died of Covid-19 earlier this year at the St. Joseph campus of Sisters of Charity Hospital. He was 74.

This is a confession. I still go by my breakthrough lesson in storytelling, the way wildly separate circles sometimes come together as if preordained, which I thought about last week when I received a Facebook message from Julie Murray Ahrens.

Her father, Tom Murray of West Seneca, was an old friend and a high school teacher of meaning in my life. Julie told me he had died from Covid-19, at 70. The note arrived while my wife Nora, our daughter, our younger son and I remained in isolation after we all tested positive for the virus, a moment when the concern and selfless gestures of friends, family and neighbors reaffirmed everyday gratitude I should never allow myself to forget.

Nov. 14, 1935 – Dec. 2, 2020

At 5 feet, 2 inches, Blase J. LaDuca was larger than life, said his daughter Michelle Mathews.

The New York State Health Department has a backlog of nearly 5,000 unresolved complaints filed against nursing homes during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Citing privacy laws, the Health Department refuses to shed any further light on those complaints other than to say they are pending and under review. 

His children and grandchildren were pulling for Harold L. Meacham to mark his 100th birthday in a year and a half, but he didn't make it.

His death notice in The Buffalo News said he was "defeated by Covid-19."

Joseph J. Thomas looked frightened.

He was dying from Covid-19, without his family around him. Each of his five children were saying their goodbyes remotely, on Thanksgiving day.

Philip G. Wiechec turned 70 on April 24, in the first weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We never got to have the big party," said his sister, Marie Manikowski.

Oct. 30, 1970 – Nov. 10, 2020

Michael J. Burns "approached every single day with a determination to fit as much as he could into whatever time God gave him," said his daughter, Caitlyn Grace Burns.

Oct. 9, 1942 – Dec. 6, 2020

June A. Valenzuela spent much of her professional career as a registered nurse in obstetrics, assisting with labor and birth.

July 11, 1932 – Dec. 18, 2020

Raymond G. Koegel, an executive at The Buffalo News and the operator of Pine Meadows Golf Course in Clarence for many years, died Dec. 18, 2020, of Covid-19 in Port St. Lucie, Fla. He was 88.

March 27, 1936 – Dec. 10, 2020

Frederic K. Houston studied architecture under two of the masters of modern design. More often that not, however, his projects involved accommodating the ornate styles of the past.

This is part of a series of stories on Western New Yorkers who have died from Covid-19. Read more at "Profiles of a Pandemic."

Richard L. Odien never forgot the 1954 fire that took the lives of 15 of his sixth grade classmates in Cleveland Hill Elementary School. In fact, he told their story to educate youngsters in the Depew school district, where he taught for 27 years.

Thomas Kutas was a quiet family man who died of complications resulting from Covid-19 on Dec. 23 at Sisters of Charity Hospital, St. Joseph's Campus in Cheektowaga.

It is a bit a mystery as to how the 72-year-old North Buffalo man, who worked at American Brass for 41 years, contracted the virus, according to the eldest of his two sons, Aaron.

Jody L. Kotowski, a postal service employee for 23 years, was a devoted wife and a champion for her special-needs daughter.

"She wanted to make sure that Francesca had as many fun, positive experiences in her life as possible," said Kotowski's brother, Richard Tomaszewski. "She was always so concerned about Francesca, and her whole life was spent worrying about her, at first.

In 1969, Dr. Luis A. Valenzuela was stationed in South Carolina with U.S. Army Medical Corps. He was supposed to be sent to Japan, but his wife was pregnant with their son Michael.

Valenzuela "got in his car and drove from South Carolina to The Pentagon to say that he couldn't go because of my mother's pregnancy," said his son David. His superiors agreed, on the condition that he accept a later assignment to Germany. But he was discharged with the rank of major in 1970 without going overseas.

Like many couples who had spent years together, James and Dottie Dojka developed a comfortable rhythm with each other that was alternately touching and comical to watch, according to her daughter and his stepdaughter, Michele Meredith.

"Me and my kids would sit back and laugh at them, because they were like a comedy show," Meredith recalled.

Dr. Joseph Masling, a pioneering researcher in Freudian psychology who taught at the University at Buffalo for more than half a century, also indulged an eclectic range of interests.

He played classical violin and listened only to classical music with a fierce antipathy toward anything composed after 1875. He was an oenophile, a connoisseur of fine wines. 

This is part of a series of stories on Western New Yorkers who have died from Covid-19. Read more at "Profiles of a Pandemic."

Annette Masling, former head librarian at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, was the first one in her downtown Buffalo home to contract Covid-19 in December.

This is part of a series of stories on Western New Yorkers who have died from Covid-19. Read more at 'Profiles of a Pandemic.'

April 23, 1944 - Jan. 18, 2021

Nov. 22, 1931 – Feb. 11, 2021

Lothar "Larry" Gottlieb fled the Nazis with his parents as a boy of 9. At the request of his wife, Doreen, he talked about his experiences with a couple of classes, but he never discussed that era of his life with his three children.

Elaine M. Luparello was a dynamic, active woman, who with her sister founded and operated two of the first day care centers in the area in the early 1970s.

Her ambition ran in the family.

Paul L. Bohanna adored his family and was a great example of a father and a husband, said his daughter Shyla Kelcy.

Three weeks was the longest he and his wife Gladys had been apart in 34 years of marriage.

Dennis R. DePerro, the 21st president of St. Bonaventure University, was a dynamo.

Soon after taking office, he formed several commissions to examine critical issues, then launched a comprehensive capital campaign to build "A Bolder Bonaventure." Last year he reconstituted the Presidential Commission on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Oct. 4, 1943 – March 26, 2021

Jacqueline C. Groszkowski spent her life giving to others.

Feb. 1, 1944 – March 25, 2021

Patricia A. Thompson Scholz, an award-winning real estate broker, died March 25 in Sisters of Charity Hospital St. Joseph Campus, Cheektowaga, 18 days after she was admitted for treatment of Covid-19. She was 77.

Jan. 18, 1940 – March 27, 2021

Howard H. English worked as a systems analyst at the University at Buffalo from 1968 to 1980, designing and implementing systems that included physical inventory, integrated coding, statistical modeling and even a final exam scheduling system for thousands of students.

A "gentle giant" is how Mark Williams’ friends describe the man known as "Big Daddy" at Coles bar and grill on Elmwood Avenue.

The establishment was more than a haunt for Williams. He had spent time there as a bouncer, a patron and best friend of the owner, Mike Shatzel.

Although working full-time and always chipping away at home improvement projects, Michael T. Roth looked for a way to give back to the community after guiding his son to the rank of Eagle Scout.

An avid outdoorsman, Roth found a home with the all-volunteer Niagara Frontier Search and Rescue Team, joining in 2013 and becoming vice president a few years ago. 

For the past 20 years, Deborah A. Lytle, a registered nurse and health care administrator, cared for patients and taught medical professionals despite her own health challenges.

Since 2000, she had been treated for breast cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and a brain-stem tumor. After recovering, Lytle "continued to enjoy travel, golf, gardening, photography, good food and hearty conversations," said her friend, Kate Lulek. "She could not, however, overcome the ravages of Covid-19."