Jose Garcia

Farmworker Age: 68

Jose Garcia died of complications of COVID-19 on Dec. 15, 2020. He was 68.

Garcia, from Canatlán, Durango, Mexico, was a farmworker in southern New Mexico. He was employed by Cervantes Enterprises from age 17 until the day he tested positive for the coronavirus.

“He was there every day, 50 weeks a year, for those 40 years, working eight, nine, 10, 12 hours (a day), whatever was necessary,” said company owner Dino Cervantes.

Garcia lived in a farmhouse provided by the company until he saved enough money to purchase a piece of land. In 1993, he and his friends built a house on that land.

Jose and his wife, Genoveva, raised nine children, 28 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. One of his children, Carolina, became a nurse. A photo of Carolina comforting him as he was intubated in a hospital’s COVID-19 ward was published by media outlets nationwide.