Life Goes On: Stories of pandemic perseverance

It is difficult for Lea McCartney to think about how abruptly her college experience ended back in the spring of 2020. She was prepping for graduation from Penn State with a degree in early childhood education when COVID moved the rest of her final semester and graduation to a virtual format. 

“Even two years later, it is still had to comprehend the sudden shutdown and quick conclusion to some of the best years I had at Penn State,” says Lea. 

For everyone, looking back to the spring of 2020 is kind of mind-boggling. At the time, it felt like the whole world suddenly stopped as we worked to slow the spread of the deadly coronavirus. 

But, as it always does, life somehow went on, albeit in sometimes strange and confusing ways. In Centre County, babies were born in hospitals that limited visitors, seniors graduated from high school virtually and then went off to college with COVID-19 restrictions in place, newlyweds celebrated their new lives together as best they could, and people mourned the loss of loved ones without the comfort of their whole tribe. No one will ever forget what it felt like to live through that time.

For many, like Lea, those times continue to help shape them as we move forward toward what we hope is the end of the pandemic.

“That early shutdown time brought a lot of lessons for me, like how to get resourceful with technology for teaching and how to connect to students through a screen or with limited time. I knew even during this time that teaching was still what I wanted to do, and I needed to be ready for anything the next few years were going to bring,” says Lea. 

Once school started again in the fall of 2020 with safety plans in place, Lea jumped right in, taking what she had learned with her. She started her teaching career as a long-term kindergarten and fourth-grade substitute teacher at Saint John’s Catholic School in Bellefonte during that time of uncertainty. 

There she got to see “the incredible community that school embodies tackling the initial back-to-school with the virus. Even with everything going on in the world, I was blown away at the resiliency of teachers, students, and administration.”

Then, showing how flexible a teacher must be in this day and age, Lea spent the second half of the school year teaching virtually at State College Area School District.

“Virtually teaching was not something I ever imagined I would be doing a few years ago, but I really enjoyed seeing another side to education and finding new ways of teaching through meetings and different online programs,” says Lea.

Through all the adversity, she kept learning, just like her students. In order to engage children through the screen, she put together creative lessons and tried to make group meetings fun and inviting for students.

“I quickly realized that there were very few things I could control at the moment, but what I could control, I was going to do everything in my power to make it helpful towards my students. I wanted to create positive connections and engaging interactions to not only keep students inspired to learn but built trust that allowed me to be a resource to students,” says Lea. 

Now a kindergarten teacher at Our Lady of Victory Catholic School in State College, she continues to use the skills she learned during that trying first year. 

“The effects of quarantine and shutdown will be seen in education for years to come, but teaching kindergarten I see the younger side of that, with many of my students not knowing how things were pre-pandemic. That is something I feel more connected to with being a new teacher. This generation of students and new teachers are experiencing new perspectives and inspiring new ideas to fill in gaps left behind from quarantine. … Year two has still been full of unexpected twists and turns, but it is comforting to have some more experience working—even if it is through unprecedented times,” says Lea.

‘Everything I hoped it would be’ 

Wedding planners always have alternative plans for potential bad weather, but for couples like Sierra and Dillon Watkins, who planned their wedding for October 2020, there was no way to be prepared for how a global pandemic could impact their big day.

It was back in the spring of 2018 that Dillon asked Sierra to be his wife while on a trip to Jamaica. Back then, no one could have envisioned the pandemic. At the time, Dillon was just worried about losing the engagement ring.

“I was clearly nervous as could be with a diamond ring in my pocket that I was just happy didn’t get lost on the flight,” he says. He didn’t lose that ring and when he bent down on one knee to propose at the beach, it was the engagement Sierra had always dreamed of. But as they planned their wedding, the pandemic put her dream wedding at risk.

“My main concern was, are we going to be able to have the wedding that I had always imagined. We had been planning this wedding for two years, and seeing countless friends on social media posting about how they were canceling definitely had us thinking for a moment,” says Sierra, who was also pregnant at the time. 

“The pandemic impacted everyone’s lives differently. We were expecting a baby and had a wedding to plan. My wife fell in love with Rolling Rails Lodge, saying ‘this is perfect, this is the one that I want.’ So, we looked at the dates and actually had to book it two years out. Then COVID hit, where the owners closed per the state’s orders. So, we had to think about possible other dates or locations until we got an e-mail saying it was a go for the location,” Dillon says.

The couple says that friends and family were supportive of their decision to go on with the show, and in the end the day ended up just as they had always hoped, even if some chose not to attend.

“We had quite a few family members reach out that because of the pandemic they didn’t feel comfortable coming. It was sad not having everyone I imagined there, but working as a nurse through the pandemic, I understood the fear,” says Sierra. She adds, “I do to an extent wish that things were different because of family members that were unable to come. But it was our day, pandemic or not; it turned out to be everything I hoped it would be.” 

Missed memories

For most people, senior year of high school and the transition to college is filled with some of the best memories of their lives. But for 2020 State College Area High School graduate Lydia Fry and the rest of the class of 2020, COVID-19 came along just in time to muck up the home stretch of their high school experience. This meant they missed out on many once-in-a-lifetime events. 

“In the beginning, it didn’t really seem like a big deal. Then, as it got further along, prom got canceled, there was no in-person graduation. It was defiantly sad at the time. I definitely feel like I missed out on those milestones,” says Lydia. 

Lydia says the community “really tried their best to do things for us. They did a parade type of thing through town for grads, and I didn’t go. Some of my friends went, some of them didn’t. For the ones who went, it was enjoyable, but it definitely didn’t substitute for a graduation.”

While Lydia was able to say goodbye and celebrate moving on with her close group of friends over the summer, she never got to say goodbye to so many other students, teachers, and staff that she had grown close with over the years. She can’t help but feel like she missed out on something that is a part of the American experience. 

“I think it will be weird if I ever have kids, and they have a graduation, and that is something that I didn’t experience, so I won’t really know what it is like,” says Lydia. 

When she headed off to the University of Colorado Boulder that fall for her freshman year, all the online learning from the end of high school came in handy, because all of her classes that first year were held virtually. COVID restrictions made it difficult to meet new people and have a normal college experience. 

“I feel like freshman year is kind of hard in general. You are figuring things out, and opportunities were so limited,” says Lydia. Even things like moving into the dorms required a COVID test for the whole family. “It just added so many extra steps to things. I had to get weekly tests and wear a mask to walk from my dorm to the bathroom. It was just an added factor that made things so much harder. It was harder to meet people. There wasn’t a lot going on. … You couldn’t even hang out in people’s dorm rooms without it being an issue.”

Lydia says that because of these challenges, many students decided to take a gap year or avoid on-campus living and just study online at home. Still, despite all the struggles, she is glad she made the decision to live in a dorm and go away to school. She was able to make a good group of friends who learned to navigate some pretty difficult situations together—including when Lydia contracted COVID-19 and had to be quarantined on campus—and still have a fun freshman year.

Now, after two years, COVID restrictions have just become a part of everyday college life for Lydia. She says, “It is weird that we are now moving away from it. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy about it … but I am grateful for the experiences I had. I think it would be much different if I didn’t. So, it is important to be grateful that it is hopefully coming to an end, but I am still very cautious to not get too comfortable because we have seen periods of time when COVID seems irrelevant and then it comes back a few months later.” 

The journey has made her realize how important it is “to live life and make the most of it. Sometimes situations suck, but it is what it is. I think I am still learning.

A difficult good-bye

Mike Braniff and his dad, Scott Braniff, had a special relationship. Mike grew up playing golf with his dad, and even as he got older they hit the links as often as they could. Later, Mike even worked with his dad, who taught him the ropes in the title insurance business.

After Scott was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and, later, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, Mike cared for his dad as he battled the diseases. It was difficult, but Mike was glad to be there for his father, who had given him so much.

Then, right around the time COVID-19 started to impact daily life in the U.S., Scott’s health took a turn for the worse and he had to go into the hospital. Because of the restrictions on visitors, Mike was unable to be there with his dad during this difficult time, after all they had been through.

“Nobody was—friends, family,” says Mike. Scott stayed in Mount Nittany Medical Center for two weeks before being transferred to Centre Crest. A week later, on April 17, 2020, he passed away at age 64. 

“The doctor there luckily let me see him for a half hour block, twice. So, I got to see him for the last month of his life for an hour, an hour and a half at the most,” says Mike. Holding back tears, he adds, “It was pretty awful, just picturing him being alone when he passed away.”

Losing a loved one is always difficult, but because of COVID concerns, Scott was unable to grieve with others, adding to the trauma of a difficult time.

“We were on lockdown, and I found out he died. I was worried about my mom getting sick. I couldn’t see anyone, and I live alone, so I literally was just left here to think about things by myself for months. … I got extremely depressed, and anxiety, which I never dealt with before. It was just a big mess,” says Mike.

There were 150 people that Mike wanted to invite to say good-bye to his father at the funeral, but COVID restrictions limited the total attendees to ten. 

“I think we had twelve. I said, forget them, I am bringing two extra friends. … At that point, when I hadn’t seen anyone, it was just great to see some family and a couple of his friends. If it wasn’t for COVID, I would have been out seeing everyone; that is how I cope,” says Mike.

Mike still misses his father, but he has moved forward, recently getting engaged and purchasing a new property for his life with his soon-to-be wife. Through it all, he feels his dad is still with him.

“We both feel like he is watching down on us and helping us out,” says Mike. He says the whole ordeal “really made me big-time stop worrying about the little things, like money and stuff that really doesn’t matter. Now, all I care about is enjoying the time I have. I am not going to wait to do things when I am 60, because I look at my dad and he never got to do anything.”

Unexpected arrival

On May, 15, 2020, Holly Lucas and her family received a surprise that they will never forget. That day, while working as a nurse at Mount Nittany Medical Center in the heart of the pandemic, Holly started feeling a pain that began in her lower back and navigated its way down. During her shift, she even had to transport a patient to the COVID-19 unit, wearing full protective gear as she managed the excruciating pain that she thought was a kidney stone. 

When she got off work, her then-fiancé and current husband, Reece Lucas, saw her pain and drove her back to the hospital. Due to COVID restrictions, she had to go in alone, while Reece went home to take care of their 1-and-a-half-year-old son, Lawson. 

Once she got settled in and a few tests were run, the doctor came back and said, “Well, m’am, you are in fact pregnant.”

At first, the doctors assumed she was having an early-stage ectopic pregnancy, where a fertilized egg implants and grows outside the main cavity of the uterus. Then, during the ultrasound, the nurse said, “Oh, wow. You got a pretty big baby in there.”

When she heard that, Holly says she was “in shock, I was speechless. Honestly, I was worried. I was like, ‘Oh my god, I am having a baby, what is going on.’ Because I hadn’t set anything up, I hadn’t taken any prenatal, I didn’t follow any restrictions. So, I was a bit worried but in utter shock.”

At that point, she realized she’d better let Reece know what was going on. Upon hearing the situation over the phone, he excitingly and confusedly asked, “What is going on?”

Holly told him, “We are having a baby right now,” and it quickly sunk in. Reece hurried to find someone to watch Lawson and rushed backed to the hospital, while Holly was quickly prepped for delivery without Reece by her side.

“Then, everything ramped up like a movie scene. I was just in all this pain, and they are rushing me into the labor and delivery unit. I am screaming. They are running. At this time the nurse I had right beside me was the support system that I would have had with my husband. She was holding my hand, telling me to breath. She was that person,” says Holly.

While being transferred to a bed, Holly’s water broke. Forty-five minutes later, her daughter was born. Only an hour and a half after Reece had dropped her off at the hospital for what she thought was a kidney stone, Holly now was holding her newborn baby in her arms.

“They laid her on my chest, and I was in utter shock, I never though I would have a daughter,” says Holly. Moments later, Reece walked into the delivery room with a mask on his face to meet his new daughter and comfort his fiancé. He sat down on the bed and asked, “Is this real, is this happening?”

Holly assured him it was as the nurse handed him his baby daughter. Because he missed the entire birth due to COVID restrictions and through no fault of his own, Holly asked Reece to name their daughter.

“He looked at her and he says ‘Lilah,’ and that is her name,” says Holly. 

Once things calmed down, the couple started calling family and friends to tell them the news. Lilah was born at 9:30 p.m.

“We were waking them up and they were like, ‘What? Are you serious?” says Holly. All those families and friends rallied around the couple to help them bring Lilah home to a house that would be prepared for an infant. 

“Immediately that morning, when they woke up, people were going to Walmart, people were going to Target to get the complete necessities that they could get with the restrictions that were going on,” says Holly. Even a nurse at the hospital pitched in. “It was amazing how many people came together.”

Through it all, Holly worried about her daughter, but she was born healthy and remains so as she approaches her second birthday. Holly calls her a “firecracker.”

She says the experience taught her to stop worrying over the past and “just look on the brighter side of things. I also know that I am really grateful that it showed how people are truly there in a time of need, no matter what is going on outside.” T&G

Vincent Corso is a staff writer for Town&Gown and The Centre County Gazette.