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The wife of the Ohio man who died of coronavirus after dismissing it as a “political plot” pushing “bulls**t lockdowns” has spoken of her heartbreak that he never lived long enough to change his mind.
“Words do not begin to describe all the emotions we, John W. McDaniel’s family, are experiencing right now,” Lisa McDaniel wrote in an open letter to the Marion funeral home holding her 60-year-old husband’s service.
The grieving wife conceded that her husband’s “unexpected and untimely loss” was further compounded by the “early assumptions that he stated on Twitter and Facebook.”
John W. McDanielFacebook“This news has opened the flood gates for people to share their own misguided anger and unfounded assumptions about a man they don’t know,” she wrote.
She was certain that had he lived, he would have disavowed his earlier comments, in which he also blamed “paranoid” people for the lockdowns that keep everyone else “from living our lives.”
Facebook“Many, like John, made statements early on not fully aware of the severity of COVID-19,” his wife said. “As each day passes, we all are learning more about this ‘invisible enemy,’” she said.
“We know if John was still here with us he would acknowledge the national crisis we are in, abide by the stay-at-home order, and encourage family and friends to do the same,” she insisted.
“But sadly he is not with us and we will forever have to live and cope with how his life ended far too soon.”
Her note revealed they were privately recording his funeral, rather than livestreaming it as initially planned, to help protect her husband’s “legacy” after the unexpected attention.
“We are overwhelmed with grief for the loss of our beloved husband, father, soon to be father-in-law, son, brother, uncle, and dear friend to many,” she wrote.
