A 30-year-old security captain at a Conway hospital.
An El Salvador native in his mid-80s who moved to Siloam Springs in April.
A 76-year-old Jasper woman who sang with a country music band, and played guitar and bass.
They are among 882 Arkansans who have died so far in the covid-19 pandemic.
This Arkansas Democrat-Gazette occasional series, "Lives Remembered," features people among the growing numbers who have died from the disease caused by the coronavirus. The 20 below are among 339 in Arkansas who lost their lives in August, according to the state Department of Health's count.
The virus continues to claim the elderly in overwhelming numbers. August's death toll included 250 people who were 65 or older, or 74% of the total.
Still, at least seven died last month who were in their 30s and 40s, according to coroners' reports obtained by the newspaper. And that number is likely higher.
The family of Bruce Hutcheson, 63, who delivered blood and plasma to Northwest Arkansas hospitals and was hospitalized for a month before succumbing to the virus, urged people of all ages to follow covid-19 safety practices.
"The small inconvenience of wearing a mask, washing your hands, social distancing -- the small things we're being encouraged to do -- could save someone's life," said Hutcheson's son-in-law, Darren Warren. "It's part of protecting each other."
Because some survivors don't want their loved ones' deaths linked publicly to covid-19, the newspaper publishes names and photographs for this series with family members' permission. In some cases when family members decline or can't be reached, information comes from coroners' reports and obituaries.
Clarence Crabtree, 67, Pine Bluff, died Aug. 1. "He was handy," said his brother, Ralph Crabtree. "He did not need instructions to assemble lawn mowers and two-cycle engines."
The Texarkana native did odd jobs in Texas and Arkansas, and worked for the Dallas Independent School District in Texas for several years before health problems sent him into a Pine Bluff nursing home, according to his brother.
In his last few months, in and out of the hospital for other problems, Crabtree was tested repeatedly for the virus, and the results always came back negative, his brother said.
At The Villages of General Baptist Health Care East nursing home on July 17, he tested positive and was admitted three days later to Jefferson Regional Medical Center. The hospital "told me they put him on a breathing machine, and at one time he was doing pretty good," Crabtree's brother said. "Then after about 24 hours, he turned for the worst."
Violet Lawson, 76, Jasper, Aug. 4. The Murray native and mother of three sang country music, and played guitar and bass with "The Blue Eagles" band, according to her son Toby Roland.
In her late 40s, she made two CDs in Nashville and talked with singing legend Porter Wagoner about getting into the business. Wagoner warned about the difficulties of starting relatively late in life, so she and her husband returned to Arkansas and happily played with their band in local Elk Lodges, churches and clubs.
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Roland said the staff at Newton County Nursing Home told him this summer that she was ill, but he didn't know that the facility had any covid-19 cases.
After her death, he learned that the cause was "pneumonia as a consequence of covid-19." He soon heard a news report that the nursing home had reported dozens of cases of the virus. He wishes he had known sooner. "We could have decided whether to take her out or leave her there," he said.
"She was so kindhearted and giving," her son said. "If it's a good mother, you just can't say enough good things about her. She was religious, and loved music and family and people."
Juan Palacios, 86, Siloam Springs, Aug. 7. The native of El Salvador moved to Washington state in February where one of his sons lived, according to another son, Jose Palacios Calderon of Springdale.
But Washington weather was too cold. So Palacios, a father of nine, moved in April to Siloam Springs and was "relieved" to find the climate more like El Salvador's, his son said.
In El Salvador, Palacios spent many years as a coffee plantation foreman. When he became too old, he worked his own land growing coffee beans. In Arkansas, he stayed busy caring for grandchildren, nieces and nephews, according to his son. He liked to play the guitar and sing, but didn't dance because his church didn't approve.
Palacios is believed to have contracted the covid-19 virus during a visit from a niece who worked at a poultry plant, his son said. He tested positive July 3, according to a Benton County coroner's report.
A diabetic whose illness wasn't well-controlled, Palacios was more vulnerable to the virus than healthier people, doctors told the family. He developed fluid in his lungs, his son said. His wife and son Jose also were infected with the virus, but survived.
An 81-year-old Ouachita River Unit prison inmate, Malvern, Aug. 7. The former Alma resident died while serving a 10-year sentence after a 2017 guilty plea to rape. His obituary said he worked for years as a sand and gravel plant superintendent.
A Saline County coroner's report said he died at Saline Memorial Hospital of "hypoxic respiratory failure due to covid-19 as a consequence of chronic myelogenous leukemia."
The Ouachita River Unit has recorded almost 1,300 positive tests for the virus, according to the Arkansas Health Department.
Ellen Ford, 80, Fayetteville, Aug. 10. The Marvell native and mother of five worked as an in-home caregiver for the sick and disabled. She also raised vegetables, and cooked and canned to feed her family, according to her daughter, Lois Glass.
"She grew peas, okra, tomatoes, cucumbers, greens. She didn't even like okra herself," her daughter said. Ford also grew flowers in her front yard and loved to go fishing. In addition to her children, she helped raise grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Ford moved to Fayetteville in about 2016 to live with Glass. As her health declined, she moved to Fayetteville Health and Rehabilitation Center. She tested positive July 17 for covid-19 but didn't have symptoms, her daughter said. Dementia was the main contributor to her mother's death, she was told.
"She was the best mom, grandma, sister, auntie. She cared about her family members and was a giver," Glass said. When anyone came to visit, "she always sent them back with something" she had prepared.
Jose Lopez, 33, Little Rock, Aug. 10. According to a Pulaski County coroner's report, Lopez was feeling ill when he arrived in the U.S. from Mexico less than two weeks before he died.
He tested positive for the covid-19 virus on Aug. 7, according to the coroner's report. Three days later, at a family member's home, he went into arrest and was transported to Baptist Health Medical Center. He died there that evening.
The coroner's report listed no history of medical problems.
Dr. Roy Lee, 84, Hasty, Aug. 10. The longtime Harrison doctor was still practicing in an urgent care office when he began feeling ill in late July.
"He was a wonderful, wonderful doctor and a good diagnostician," said his sister-in-law, Lyndia Lee. "And he was good to people. He would buy medicine for people and take it to them. I've had so many people tell me, 'Dr. Lee saved my life,' 'Dr. Lee sent me to a specialist who saved my life.'"
A family doctor and surgeon by training, the father of three practiced in Texas before deciding to move back to the family homestead at Hasty about 25 years ago, according to his sister-in-law. His parents were still living then, and he also enjoyed working on the family ranch.
He and another doctor operated a Mediquick urgent care office in Harrison. When Lee's partner decided seven or eight years ago to retire, "Roy wasn't ready to retire. He never wanted to retire," his sister-in-law said.
When he started feeling sick in late July, he thought it was a flare-up of a bird flu contracted years ago. When he didn't get better, a nurse at his office said, "'Doc, let's test you for covid,' And sure enough, he had it," his sister-in-law said.
No one knew whether he contracted the virus from a patient or from people he spoke with -- and often hugged -- at the grocery store and other stops around town, she said.
Hospitalized about July 28, he spent almost two weeks at Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville. "He really did fight. He only went on the ventilator two days before he died," his sister-in-law said. Asked by the hospital staff, "'Will you be willing to go on a ventilator?' he said, 'Yes I will, but I'm not going to have to do that.'"
Throughout his life, Lee played old-time and popular tunes on the fiddle. In Texas, he had friends and acquaintances in the country music business: "Mickey Gilley, Ray Price, Willie Nelson of all people," said his sister-in-law.
"He loved every morning getting up, having his coffee and reading his Bible. He loved going to the Moose Club and playing his fiddle," she said. "He was quite a fellow in every way."
A 65-year-old Ouachita River Unit inmate, Malvern, Aug. 11. He died while being treated for covid-19 at Baptist Health-Little Rock, according to a coroner's report.
The report says he was admitted to the hospital from the prison on Aug. 9 because of "altered mental status" and trouble breathing, and died two days later. According to a Corrections Department spokeswoman, he was serving a life sentence out of Sebastian County for kidnapping.
Clint Watson II, 30, North Little Rock, Aug. 11. Among Arkansas' younger victims of covid-19, Watson was a security department captain at Baptist Health-Conway.
Watson's mother, Rosemary Watson, said her son started feeling sick while at work.
According to a Pulaski County coroner's report, he went to Baptist Health-North Little Rock on July 19, complaining of shortness of breath and confusion. He tested positive for covid-19.
Admitted to the hospital, he seemed in good condition at first but rapidly declined over the next several days.
Watson graduated from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a degree in criminal justice and began his career in security at Baptist Health in Conway more than a decade ago, his mother said. He was engaged to be married and had three children, ages 6, 7 and 10, his mother said.
"He just loved being around his family," she said. "If he wasn't with his family, he was at work."
Bruce Hutcheson, 63, Lowell, Aug. 12. He enjoyed camping, fishing, watching movies and spending time with family. His health was generally good -- he controlled Type 2 diabetes with diet and medication, said his son-in-law, Darren Warren.
The Marine veteran worked for Community Blood Center of the Ozarks, delivering blood and plasma to hospitals in Northwest Arkansas. Though it's unknown how Hutcheson contracted covid-19, family members say it may have happened as he delivered blood and plasma.
"He was wearing a mask and gloves and taking precautions," Warren said. "But he recounted an instance where a man was short of breath and about to pass out. He didn't get close, but was within the vicinity. We just don't know."
In early July, Hutcheson and his wife, Aurora, both started feeling ill with dry cough, runny nose and fatigue. They went to Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas on July 4 with breathing problems and were diagnosed with pneumonia. They were treated and went home, Warren said.
The next day, after Bruce Hutcheson's oxygen level dropped, he went back to the emergency room and tested positive for covid-19. He stayed at the hospital three days, but improved enough to go home. His wife, who also had a positive covid-19 test, was able to recover at home. On July 12, Bruce Hutcheson experienced gastrointestinal problems and, soon, breathing difficulties. He was readmitted to Mercy and given high levels of oxygen.
For the next month, at Mercy and later at the VA Medical Center, Hutcheson fought the virus, sometimes gasping for air as he talked to family members by phone, Warren said.
After a difficult transfer to the VA hospital on July 17, he called his daughter, April Warren, to tell her he was going on a ventilator. "He tried to keep her from getting upset," Darren Warren said. "He told her that God had told him he would live and to get all the family together to pray for him. We got the family together out in front of the VA where the flags are and prayed for him. That was the last conversation April had with her dad."
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"He was quite the fighter," Warren said. During Hutcheson's 26 days on a ventilator, "we thought at one point he was doing pretty good. They were going to do a tracheotomy and slowly bring him off the ventilator. But he got an infection and couldn't beat it."
Macolar Ratliff, 81, Holly Grove, Aug. 13. Ratliff was living at home before she got sick with covid-19. "She enjoyed watching TV, walking outside and doing the little things," said her nephew, Brandon Cartwright.
She began feeling ill in early August, went to a nearby hospital Aug. 10, and was diagnosed with pneumonia and covid-19. From there, her health deteriorated rapidly. She was transported to Baptist Health-Little Rock, where she died three days later, according to a coroner's report.
Ratliff, who lived her entire life in Holly Grove, left behind no children, but had several nieces and nephews, Cartwright said. Family members had no idea how she caught the virus.
An 87-year-old Fayetteville woman, Aug. 14. A New Jersey native, the mother of two was "an accomplished pianist, with a lifelong passion for classical music, as well as for the sea and sailing, according to her obituary.
She worked for several years as a library technician at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville's Mullins Library.
A resident of Fayetteville Health and Rehabilitation Center, she was a hospice patient who tested positive for covid-19 before her death, according to a Washington County coroner's report.
A 64-year-old Fort Smith man, Aug. 15. A native of Saigon, Vietnam, he worked for Tyson Foods, according to his obituary.
He was admitted to UAMS Medical Center in Little Rock on Aug. 1 with covid-19, according to a Pulaski County coroner's report. The coroner's report listed no significant medical history.
The husband and father of five was hospitalized for about two weeks before his death.
A 57-year-old Mabelvale man, Aug. 15. An armed services veteran, he worked as a police officer for 24 years, according to his obituary. The husband and father of one "spent his whole life helping others."
He was admitted Aug. 10 to Baptist Health Medical Center with "altered mental status," according to a Pulaski County coroner's report. Diagnosed with kidney failure and covid-19, he died five days later.
Dorothy Johnson, 75, Hamburg, Aug. 18. When Johnson first fell ill in early July, she ascribed it to an annual bout with "the crud."
She told son Jason Johnson around noon July 11 that she hadn't felt well for a few days, but didn't need help and was staying hydrated.
Within three hours, she struggled to breathe and asked to go to the hospital by ambulance. Her son was immediately alarmed. She detested hospitals and was loathe to seek help. "This woman never asked for anything. She could be starving to death, and she wouldn't take a piece of bread from you," he said.
Dorothy Johnson was matriarch of a southeast Arkansas family of seven: husband, four sons and a daughter. She made ends meet on a seamstress salary from the Hamburg Shirt Factory, where she worked for decades, supplemented by her husband's disability checks.
"It put food on the table," her son said, adding that the family was "dirt poor."
Dorothy Johnson was stern but ready to help others, he said. "It didn't matter the case or cause. ... She may tell them how stupid they were for doing it, but she'd help them."
It's not clear how she contracted the virus, her son said. After she was hospitalized July 11 at the Ashley County Medical Center, she transferred July 29 to Baptist Health-North Little Rock. She was on and off a ventilator as her condition worsened and improved, her son said. A few family members saw her a final time in the minutes before she died.
Ester Simpkins, 94, Dumas, Aug. 19. Known as "Mama Chook" and "Mrs. Chook" from a childhood nickname, she told her children whenever they had a problem: "Let's pray about it."
"It used to aggravate me when I was young. I would say 'Mama, we have to do more than just pray,'" said a daughter, Glenda Hagood of Little Rock. "But I've learned as I've grown older, I realized she was saying: Let's stop, pray, consider, before we take action."
"Her faith was the biggest thing. She lived a life of faith."
As her children grew up, Simpkins loved cooking, canning and baking, especially cakes, Hagood said. Later in life, fishing became her favorite pastime.
As her health deteriorated, her large family was able to take turns staying with her, to keep her in her home in Dumas. In addition to her eight children and five stepchildren, she had 29 grandchildren, 62 great-grandchildren and 29 great-great grandchildren, according to her obituary.
"She had the ability to make every person she touched feel they were her favorite," her daughter said. "Every one of us claims to be the favorite. In actuality, every one was the favorite."
In early August, Simpkins tested positive for covid-19 and stopped eating. She was admitted to Baptist Health Medical Center on Aug. 6, and was alert and responded to nurses the first few days but then began to decline.
"Besides her death, the hardest thing was not being able to see her and her not being able to see family," Hagood said. "She had never been away from her family. That went on for about two weeks. When we heard we were losing her, I was fortunate to get to go to the hospital and be with her."
Hagood said the family wants the public to know "how important it is to wear masks and do the things the CDC guidelines call for, especially when it comes to our elderly because they are so vulnerable."
A 75-year-old White Hall man, Aug. 25. The Army veteran worked in civilian life as a purchasing agent, according to his obituary. A husband and father of two, he enjoyed fishing, duck hunting and sports, especially the Arkansas Razorbacks.
After receiving a pacemaker for his heart in early August, he developed covid-19, according to a Jefferson County coroner's report. He survived eight days after testing positive on Aug. 17.
John Louis Berry Sr., 68, Little Rock, Aug. 25. The longtime Tulsa resident was disabled but could participate at his church, including singing in the male chorus, said his sister, Katherene Scott.
He moved to Little Rock last year to be closer to family and deal with health issues that included diabetes. Before he contracted covid-19, he was living in his own apartment, and spending time with family and friends.
The father of three came down with a gastrointestinal illness last month. "We figured it was a virus, not the virus," his sister said. She and her husband took Berry to the hospital Aug. 6. Health care workers said he had symptoms of covid-19, admitted him, and told family they would not be allowed to visit. He tested positive for covid-19 on Aug. 13, according to a coroner's report.
"It was hard on the family because we couldn't see him, and hard because he couldn't see his family," Scott said.
At Baptist Health Medical Center for more than two weeks, "he was doing pretty good at first, then in a couple of days didn't do so well, then pretty good." As he worsened again, Berry agreed to go on a ventilator, but went downhill, his sister said.
A 63-year-old Little Rock man, Aug. 26. A printing company pressman for 32 years, he loved church and his family, hunting and fishing. He "had already made plans for this fall's hunting season," according to his obituary.
He was hospitalized July 29 with covid-19 at UAMS Medical Center, according to a Pulaski County coroner's report.
Don Weeks, 83, Little Rock, Aug. 27. The Army veteran and enthusiastic outdoorsman had a long first career that spanned banking, sales, pharmaceuticals and investments.
After retirement, he joined the staff of Arkansas Conference of the United Methodist Church, where he developed the Volunteers In Mission ministry statewide, and traveled to natural disaster sites and developing countries to provide assistance.
Writing about him for a church newsletter, the Rev. Maxine Allen called him "the champion of collaboration and partnerships" who "loved Philander Smith College and was strategic in helping to locate the conference offices there."
His wife, Brenda Weeks, described him as a "good, good man" with a need to "give back to people devastated by loss of homes, property, jobs. He took that very seriously and worked very hard."
Because her husband battled COPD lung problems, he was careful to follow covid-19 safety rules, his wife said.
Even so, he began feeling ill last month and recorded a positive test result for the virus on Aug. 11, according to a Pulaski County coroner's report. By Aug. 15, his fever up and oxygen levels down, he was admitted to Baptist Health Medical Center. "His lungs weren't strong enough to recover," his wife said.
Information for this article was contributed by Jeannie Roberts, Graham Underwood, Frank Lockwood, Ginny Monk and Kat Stromquist of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.