‘Best version of himself ’
Family, friends mourn probation officer lost to COVID
STAMFORD — Friends, judicial marshals, probation officers, judges, police officers and family met at the Stamford courthouse Wednesday to celebrate the life of Jonathan Coelho, a probation officer whose emotional message for his wife and young family from his hospital bed spurred a national outpouring of sympathy.
Wednesday would have been Coelho’s 33rd birthday. His death at Danbury Hospital in April, a month after contracting COVID-19, made national news when his wife Katie revealed that her husband had left her a digital note expressing his love for her and their two children.
They were present at Wednesday’s outdoor ceremony, organized by Coelho’s co-workers in the probation department.
Katie Coelho told the roughly
hundred people gathered that her husband was a quiet person who loved what he did. Coelho began his career as a judicial marshal in Danbury before working his way to become a probation officer, a position he always wanted to attain.
Her husband didn’t mind the hour commute to the courthouse from their home in Bethel because he wanted to help people, she said.
“He talked about how much everyone cared about each other and how much everyone helped each other and he loved that,” she said. “For the first time he felt a camaraderie. He wanted to be the best version of himself.”
Just as she was relating how her quiet husband would be “mortified” at such a gathering being held in his memory, a puff of wind swept down from the gray sky and blew a picture of him to off the easel where it had been displayed.
“OK Jonathan, if you are going to be that dramatic,” Katie Coelho said to the laughter of attendees.
She had rushed to the hospital on the night her husband died, but was not able to get there in time to say a last goodbye. But after she brought his personal effects home and unlocked his phone, a note popped up.
“I love you guys with all my heart and you’ve given me the best life I could have ever asked for,” it read.
“I am so lucky it makes me so proud to be your husband and the father to Braedyn and Penny,” it continued. “Katie you are the most beautiful caring nurturing person I’ve ever met ... you are truly one of a kind … make sure you live life with happiness and that same passion that made me fall in love with you. Seeing you be the best mom to the kids is the greatest thing I’ve ever experienced.”
The message was written only a few days into his threeweek stay at the hospital.
Katie Coelho went on to thank those attending Wednesday’s ceremony for giving her toddler children something they could cherish for a long time.
“I can tell them how great their dad was and how great he was at his job, but you guys are giving them something to see, and something even more to be proud of. So, on behalf of my family, Jonathan’s family and his friends, thank you guys very much,” she said.
Coelho’s father said he was touched by the gathering.
“I am so honored by the kind words spoken about my son. He met his goal. He always wanted to be a probation officer,” said Al Coelho, pastor at Faith Church in New Milford. “It meant so much to me.”
Attorney Mark Sherman, who emceed the memorial, said Coelho was liked by everyone in the courthouse, which was no easy feat.
State Rep. Matt Blumenthal presented a citation to Coelho’s family from the General Assembly.
“Through his hard work he helped make Stamford, Greenwich and Darien safer and assisted in many members of these communities with rehabilitating and improving themselves,” it read. “The General Assembly wishes to honor, recognize and thank Johnathan for his service and lasting contributions to the state of Connecticut.”