Column: Mourning the loss of my niece to COVID-19

Window on the West

Opinion column

by Mary Rupert

Today was one of the saddest days in my recent memory, as I heard that my niece, JoEllen, has died from COVID-19 and complications.

Only 32 years old, JoEllen Flanagan Engelbart, an assistant prosecuting attorney in Jackson County, Missouri, had COVID-19 and went into a hospital in Missouri a few days before Christmas. We first heard that news on Christmas morning. She and Matt were expecting their first child, a son, Ross, who was delivered prematurely by C-section on Dec. 29. The baby went to the neonatal intensive care unit of another Missouri hospital.

We were all heartbroken when we heard the news from the family that she died about 3:10 p.m. today. We heard from the family that her asthma and other complications made it a difficult struggle.

JoEllen was a talented young attorney who had received many awards. She served on the Missouri Bar Young Lawyers Section Council. She received the Up and Coming Public Service Award from the Missouri Lawyers Weekly in 2017. She was active in the Association of Women Lawyers, Kansas City Chapter. She was honored as an outstanding law student while attending the University of Missouri at Kansas City. During her undergraduate years at Truman State, she was the recipient of the President’s Medallion.

JoEllen was passionate about helping victims, and she also volunteered at the Rose Brooks Center.

We hadn’t seen her during the past year, as everyone is staying home, and with her extremely busy life, we didn’t see her very often at all. She wasn’t able to attend our Christmas dinner in December 2019, but we saw her two brothers that day. We didn’t invite people over for Christmas 2020 because of the pandemic. Probably the last time we saw her was at her brother’s wedding and related events in May 2019. She organized a bridal shower, and did a wonderful job with it, as she did with everything. She had an extremely demanding career.

Today I wondered if JoEllen knew that her late paternal grandfather, Thomas Flanagan Sr., also my father, had survived a bout with the flu in the pandemic of 1919, the year he was born.

Born in Kansas City, Kansas, JoEllen moved when she was a child with her family to Missouri, which also was where she and her husband later made their home. The oldest of three children, as a youngster she was always keeping her little brothers in line, and was very responsible. She also had a great sense of humor, and was very intelligent.

One thing that impressed me about JoEllen was what she said as a child when she was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. She said she wanted to be President. I certainly think that she would have been a great President.

A Go Fund Me page for expenses for Ross and Matt and the family has been set up at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-for-the-engelbart-family?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=p_cp%20share-sheet&fbclid=IwAR31Ecdnwi95Hf1izF-D6alsxIj5coyBurLkVgb9GqHslFE45p-znKW2OvA.

To reach Mary Rupert, editor, email [email protected].