Couple in hospital, just one goes home
Bloomfield husband leaves large family
When it became clear Gordon Johnson would die of COVID-19, his wife of 46 years, Gilda, who was also hospitalized with the disease, was able to go from her hospital bed to his room to say goodbye.
“They allowed her to go up and see him before they took him off the machine,” said Tyra Johnson-Smith, Gordon Johnson’s youngest daughter. “She had to FaceTime us so we could see. We couldn’t go up there.”
Gordon Johnson, 66, died April 4 at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center.
The couple both became sick with COVID-19 and were hospitalized in late March. Gilda Johnson’s body was fighting the disease, but the coronavirus hit her husband harder.
He was intubated and placed on a ventilator March 27, the day after he was admitted to the hospital. And with that, he never regained consciousness.
As the illness took its toll, his six children, 15 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren could not visit.
The family was hopeful their father would be able to beat the disease. There were good signs, then his organs began to shut down and his blood began to clot.
His death has left a gaping hole in a large family. Johnson-Smith said she and her siblings are visiting her
parents’ Bloomfield home to see their mother, who left the hospital April 13 and is recuperating at home.
“Of course, she’s heartbroken, but healthwise she’s better,” Johnson-Smith said. “She’s breathing better. She still has a cough. It got scary for a moment. She was scared she was going to have to get intubated. Thankfully she didn’t. She was in the hospital two weeks herself.”
Gordon Johnson was a longtime employee at the Hilton Hartford, where most recently he was a security officer. He had previously worked as a special deputy sheriff in the court system and as a rehabilitation specialist at St. Francis. Johnson was also a deacon at his church, Mount Olive Church Ministries on Battles Street in Hartford.
Gilda Johnson is a registered nurse at the Charter Oak Health Center on Grand Street in Hartford.
It’s unclear how each became ill, Johnson-Smith said.
“They were both working,” she said. “This was before social distancing, before they were telling us to wear masks.” Gordon Johnson had diabetes, but it was controlled with medication, his daughter said.
Losing her father has been difficult, she said.
“I’m the youngest and I was really close with my father,” Johnson-Smith said. “Even now, I’m at their house and his car is outside but he’s not here. It’s so weird. It was a big shock and devastating to us.”
The Courant is working to highlight the lives of those lost to COVID-19. If you have lost a loved one, please contact David Owens at dowens@courant.com.