Widow of beloved 911 dispatcher who died of COVID last month also succumbs to disease: ‘It’s just the worst living nightmare’

The children of Guadalupe Lopez, a beloved 911 dispatcher who died from complications of COVID-19 last month, had a videographer follow them around at their father’s funeral last Monday so they could show their mother and his wife, Maria Lopez, who was hospitalized with the coronavirus.

But Maria Lopez never got to see the video or hear about how her husband received full honors from the Chicago Police Department.

Maria Lopez, 56, died from complications of COVID-19 at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood on Friday night.

La Voz Sidebar

Lea este artículo en español en La Voz Chicago, la sección bilingüe del Sun-Times.

Through an intensive-care unit window, the Lopez family said their final farewells to their mother and grandmother.

“She was beautiful,” Maria’s eldest daughter, Erica Lopez, recalled Sunday. “She looked like an angel.”

The pain of losing one parent can feel unbearable, but losing both within 2 1⁄2 weeks is insufferable, Erica said.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

“It’s just such a shock to us,” she said. “There was no goodbye, there was no hug, there was no ‘I love you,’ there was no kisses ... It’s hard, it’s really hard to grieve, it’s really hard to understand when your heart is just so broken. It’s not fair. It’s not fair what’s happening to our family.

“I’ve been numb. I felt the same way watching my dad’s casket get lowered into the ground, I felt nothing, I just felt shock and it’s like we couldn’t grieve my dad because my mom was so sick in the hospital. And I still can’t grieve my dad because my mom died. We just buried my dad on Monday and now I have to plan another funeral. It’s just the worst living nightmare, pure-hell situation you can’t even make up or dream of.”

Just like her husband, Maria’s mission in life was to help and serve her community. She owned and operated a tax business in Little Village, where she was born and raised. People would come from all over Illinois and neighboring states to utilize her services.

“She was really good at her job, but she was [also] like a friend,” said Erica, who worked as her mom’s secretary. “My mom wouldn’t just do your taxes and rush you out, she would want to hear, ‘Tell me about your life? How was your year? Did you have any more grandkids?’”

Maria loved colorful candy skulls and suns and taking what felt like too many photos at times. Erica estimates there are “tens of thousands” of pictures scattered around her parents’ house.

“My mom left us beautiful photos for memories, but I don’t need the photos,” Erica said. “Everywhere you go, this whole house is my mom [and dad].”

Erica said her parents were full of life before they caught the coronavirus before Halloween. She compared their relationship to that of Peggy and Al Bundy from the sitcom “Married... With Children.”

“My mom was the tall, beautiful, meaty woman, and my dad, the serious, sport-loving grumpy guy that worked all the time,” she said. “And it’s just so sad.”

Provided

Within two weeks of falling ill, Maria and Guadalupe were admitted to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn. They weren’t allowed visitors due to COVID-19 precautions, but they shared a hospital room before Guadalupe was moved to the ICU.

Maria’s condition had been improving before her husband died. One of the doctors at Loyola told Erica that although her mom put up “one hell of a fight” to return home, “people can’t fight when they’re brokenhearted ... and she couldn’t fight anymore.”

“All [my dad] wanted was a happy ending, and in a way, it is like a happy ending,” Erica said. “It’s like a happy ending to a love story. [My mom] died, and they’ll be together now, and that’s what gives me a lot of peace and a lot of comfort is knowing that my parents are no longer suffering.”