Remembering the lives lost to COVID-19: Theodis Quarles, 48, of Memphis
Theodis Ray Quarles, 48, of Memphis died on Dec. 18 after becoming ill with COVID-19. He’s among the more than 500,000 Americans who have lost their lives to the disease since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic early last year.
His wife, Vickie Quarles, told Yahoo News that “to know him was to love him” and that he was “an outstanding man who would give his shirt off his back for you.”
Video Transcript
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VICKIE QUARLES: My name is Vickie Quarles. I lost my husband, Theodis Quarles, December the 18th, 2020, to COVID-19.
Theodis Quarles was an amazing man. To know him was just to love him. I don't think he ever met a stranger. You came into connections with my husband, you would have thought you have known him for years. A wonderful husband and a wonderful father. He was just this outstanding man. He would give his shirt off of his back for you.
Theodis was very dedicated to his job. That was like his second family. He went way and beyond. It's never a day that he missed. If he missed work, it was detrimental.
He worked at Direct Auto for 10 years as a sales territory manager. His leadership skills spoke for itself. He was that logical person. He was that analytical person. He would get so happy just to try to solve a problem.
Theodis had a nickname for me. He named me Soully, for soulmate. We met at the gas station. And it was crazy because my mom and dad actually met at the gas station when they were married, and they were married over 40-something years.
And I told him I wouldn't give him my number until I saw him again, thinking that, OK, I'm not going to see him again, so I'm not going to have to worry about giving him my number. I ran into him twice that day-- later on that day. And at the light, I finally gave him my number.
We end up getting married. He was like this amazing husband. It wasn't a day that go by that I didn't have some type of roses in the house, because he know how much I love roses. He was my best friend, and I feel like a piece of my soul left with him because we talked about everything. We did everything together. He just treated me like a queen.
Theodis was an amazing father, an exceptional father. He has three previous kids before us, and I call them my bonus kids. So he has a lot of girls. He has seven girls and one boy. Now, he was old school-- OK, but I have to discipline you, I'll discipline you. But he believed in the father and daughter days.
He believe in having that open communication. He was like, I would rather tell you before the streets tell you. He was like, I am your father. He put those characteristics and qualities-- he set the bar high for these girls. He always preached to the girls, know your word on anything-- school, work, boyfriend, whatever. Know your word.
He came home December the 9th, and we noticed that he was really weak, and we'd just never seen him like that. We would always talk about COVID. He would say, right now, no one needs to catch COVID. Because we were always-- we was that family that did not go anywhere when the virus hit. And we had protection of the masks, we had the gloves, we had-- everything that the guideline CDC said, we did.
He just feared the hospitals. But then he kept saying he was feeling he was getting better. I think he thought he could beat this. It's just so crazy on how the virus had hit, because he was doing so good. I mean, he was just like a normal, everyday person, just up and about, talking, walking.
Everything was good until it just turned drastically. He had no diabetes, no hypertension, no cholesterol prob-- nothing.
I just can't believe this is like my new norm. I feel like I'm just existing at this point. My daughters, they're trying to understand why their dad turned into an angel. They're trying to understand why we didn't all turn into an angel at the same time, and we all had it.
Their separation anxiety is through the roof. If I leave the house, they want to know what time I'm coming back, where I'm going, why do I have to go. It was like, Daddy went, and he came back as an angel. Are you going to come back as an angel?
I'm dealing with their grief just like I'm dealing with my grief. We cannot ever forget COVID, because it has hit our home drastically. COVID is real. It's not a hoax. A lot of people think that it's just like the flu. This is not anything nowhere near the flu. And just because it hasn't hit your home, please think about the ones that has been tragically affected by it.
