Detroit's Belle Isle becomes a place to mourn, celebrate the lives lost to COVID-19

There was light Monday.

On a sunny day in the middle of a city besieged by a relentless virus, 1,500 metro Detroiters were memorialized in a massive ceremony like no other in the country.

During the Memorial Drive, the faces of those lost to COVID-19 were on full display for miles along Belle Isle. Portraits of 907 people — mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters — who died from the virus were staked in the ground, as their loved ones drove past to bid a collective farewell.

COVID-19 did not own this day.

Love did.

“All of these people had loved ones who died,”  said Keela Barrow-Thomas, 56, who lost her father to COVID-19 in the spring.

Her dad, Alfred Barrow, was in a nursing home in Detroit when he was rushed to the hospital —  unresponsive. Eventually, Barrow, 83, was able to talk to his family over the phone. Barrow-Thomas told him "he would be fine."

But Alfred Barrow died on April 10. 

For Barrow-Thomas, participating in Monday's memorial was a moment to remember her father and connect with so many others who’ve faced similar loss.

[ Visit the We Will Remember memorial wall, a tribute to the lives lost in Michigan during the coronavirus pandemic ]

Detroit grieves together  

At 8:45 a.m. Monday morning, bells rang out across Detroit simultaneously in honor of the Detroiters whose lives were taken by COVID-19 since March.  

And through a long, solemn day, numerous processions filled with cars and SUVs and led by hearses from area funeral homes, drove through Belle Isle.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and the city's arts and culture director, Rochelle Riley, spoke at the opening of the memorial event. Riley headed the planning of the event.

"This city was hit harder than most. ... Last week, Michigan recorded our 100,000th case of COVID-19. We've now lost more than 6,750 Michiganders, more than 1,500 here in Detroit," said Whitmer, in her remarks.

"It's easy to get numb in this environment, but we must not just look at this as numbers. These are people. Men and women, fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, brothers and sisters, who had dreams and plans and a story. They weren't finished yet." 

More: One mural. 900 faces: 'It didn't have to be this bad'

Duggan spoke after Whitmer. He recalled a Zoom community meeting in April where one of the participants brought up the pain of not being able to hold a funeral for public health reasons.

Duggan, whose father died in March following a lengthy illness, told the woman that he understood. “We didn’t have a visitation. We didn’t have a funeral. You don’t realized how much of an important part of the grieving process it is until you go through it."

Of the Monday event, Duggan said, "Today, we get a chance to mourn together.”

More: Families are looking for closure and uplifted spirits on Detroit Memorial Day

More: How racial inequity turned deadly in a city amid a comeback

The sense of grief was palpable as the processions passed by the photos placed in alphabetical order. The first was Annette Patricia Achampong, whose soulful eyes greeted mourners at the start of the drive.

Then came the portrait of Alfred Adams ll, in cap and gown, clutching a degree. Followed by Darrin L. Adams, also in cap and gown, flashing a big smile as he holds the 2017 graduation program from Wayne State University.

The sun continued to shine as, one by one, the cars came through. The people inside had cellphones in hand to record the moment unfolding in front of them. The mood was quiet and peaceful. 

"It's kind of like walking through a cemetery, but you're looking at photographs instead of tombstones. ... It's so serene," said Detroit Police photographer Reggie Burks. He was there for the many colleagues and friends he lost, including a former roommate, William Thurston Armor, who died in April of COVID-19 at DMC Sinai Grace Hospital and was on a ventilator before he passed.

"I wish there was more we could have done for them. ... It went too fast," Burks said.

Music could be heard from inside the vehicles, some of it part of an audio program of remembrance provided by WRCF-FM. There was gospel music and opera and a popular standard, "What A Wonderful World."

Kevin Charles drove alone to honor his brother, Michael Charles, who died May 16.  He shared how his brother loved to bike with the Slow Roll bicycle group rides held throughout the city. 

Tionna Barksdale-Matthews was there for her sister, Laneeka Barksdale, known as “Nikki” to her family, who was 47 years old when she died on March 23 from COVID-19.

She said it was “disturbing” to see that COVID-19 hit the African American community so hard. "It's really so many faces," she said.

Barksdale-Matthews wore a white T-shirt bearing a picture of her sister's face and the words, "Our dancing angel."

"She was known as Detroit's ballroom queen," said Laneeka Barksdale's mother, Stephanie Barksdale.

“There’s not a moment in the day that I’m not thinking about my mom. There are days that I can’t sleep,” said Laneeka Barksdale's son, Tyree, 18, who recently graduated from University Preparatory Academy High School. 

Families express gratitude

As they left Belle Isle, some expressed gratitude for the chance to pay tribute to cherished relatives.

Tanzania Alexander, accompanied by her mother and daughter, said, "My father was a victim of COVID, along with other things, and I just think that this is really nice for the city of Detroit to memorialize these victims." 

Walter Alexander was 65 when he died April 8.

Volunteers who were there to help on Detroit Memorial Day found unexpected connections. As she walked down the line of photographs, Sarah Smith, 53 and a nurse, spotted two of her former patients.

“They're not just a number, they are a real, actual person with family members that did not get to say goodbye ... in the normal way that we do,” said Smith, who lives in Brush Park.

Smith said she was remembering the shifts at work she spent with them and noted that it felt "very good to see them dressed in civilian clothes not in a hospital gown and looking happy in the photographs."

Another volunteer, Raven Scott, 33, of Detroit, discovered that her fifth-grade teacher at Detroit Academy of Arts and Sciences, Steven Ballard, was among the victims. "I was driving and I stopped at the letter B, and I said,'Wait, what?' It was him."

Scott, who worked for a nonprofit in workforce development, said she saw Ballard about a year ago at a grocery store and was able to thank him. "He was 100% my favorite teacher. ... He would tell us to wave our homework in the air. He made learning fun.”

The level of loss experienced by Detroit for the past five months was apparent Monday to everyone who was there. For this particular day, Belle Isle became hallowed ground, a place for the living to feel close to the departed. 

A place for a city to continue the process of healing.

Cher Coner, 50, said her mother, a lifelong Detroiter, died of sepsis on April 8 in Sacramento, California, and couldn't have a funeral because of public health restrictions.

"All I could do was sit down and cry," Coner said.

Coner said she was the one on the Zoom call with Duggan who suggested a service to honor those lost, a spark that helped fuel the very personal — and very public — experience of Detroit Memorial Drive.

"This is for all of us," she said. "This is for the city of Detroit."

The memorial site on Belle Isle will be open to the public Tuesday and Wednesday.

We will remember

If you have a family member or close friend who has died from COVID-19 and you would like to share their story, go here.