Mother of SC teacher who died from COVID-19 also passes away from virus
South Carolina teacher Demetria Bannister died earlier of this month from COVID-19 and now the virus has claimed the life of her mother, Shirley
The coronavirus already took the life of a young South Carolina teacher and now her mother has also died from COVID-19.
Shirley Bannister died of complications related to the coronavirus on Sunday, according to her brother, Dennis Bell. She was 57 with a history of asthma and diabetes.
“She actually went to the hospital twice, the second time they decided to keep her,” Bell told CNN. “She had so much to give, so this is like an unexpected gut punch for the whole family.”
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Bannister was the chair of the nursing department at Midlands Technical College in Columbia, South Carolina. Ronald Rhames, the college’s president, offered his condolences upon learning of her passing.
“My heart is broken. Shirley was like an angel on Earth. Her life mission was caring for others,” Rhames said in a statement.
Her brother told CNN that she “got really sick about two, three days after her daughter died” earlier this month.
As theGrio reported, Demetria “Demi” Bannister died on Sept. 7 after battling COVID-19. The fifth-grade teacher was just 28 and had begun her third year of teaching at Columbia’s Windsor Elementary School.
She was last at the school on Aug. 28, and the school learned she tested positive for the virus on Sept. 4. According to the school district statement, when classes officially began, she was teaching virtually from home.
Bell says his sister was “overwhelmed” by the loss of her daughter. He likened their relationship to that of “the best of friends” and paid tribute to their bond.
“They’d go to dinner together, they’d go to the movies, go to concerts and things like that, and they planned events together,” said Bell.
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“Demetria, in a sense, was just like her mother,” Bell said.
The mother and daughter are survived by Shirley’s 87-year-old mother and her husband, Dennis. Demetria was the couple’s only child.
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