STARK COUNTY, Ohio — The number of coronavirus deaths in the United States neared 100,000 on Monday night.
This past weekend, The New York Times featured a list of 1,000 of those people with snippets from their obituaries. Among them was a man from Stark County who died on April 11.
On the front page of the newspaper, in the last column, 15 names down, you'll find him: "Stanley L. Morse, 88, Stark County Ohio, trombonist who once turned down an offer to join Duke Ellington's orchestra."
"My dad was born a musical genius," his daughter Cheryl Morse said.
Cheryl, who lives in Green, said her father was born in Geneva, Pennsylvania in 1931. By the time he was 16, living in Zanesville with his family, he was a talented trombonist, discovered by talent scout and musician Horace Heidt.
Stanley Morse competed in a nationwide talent contest, placing second, and Duke Ellington even offered him a job. But it wasn't to be.
"My grandfather’s a preacher man," Cheryl said. "And my grandfather said, 'Oh, no, no, no, no, no, you’re not doing this."
Instead, Stanley went to college and earned a music degree. He spent one year as a band director, but teaching wasn't for him, so he became a musical arranger, something he excelled at, Cheryl said.
She remembered her father, even in his 80s, sitting and shaking his knee and writing. She would ask him how he knew what he was writing.
"'You have Alzheimer’s!'" Cheryl recalled saying. "But he remembers his music."
Stanley Morse was deeply involved in his church, Trinity Gospel Temple in Canton. He loved his three children, Cheryl, Barbara, who lives in Rhode Island, and Stan the second, who lives in Los Angeles. And he was a huge Ohio sports fan, from the Buckeyes to the Indians, Browns and Cavaliers.
Stanley lived with Cheryl and her wife briefly before they placed him in a nursing home, and Cheryl said she showed him the Ohio State national championship game on DVR every day.
"Every day he thought it was a new game, and every day he watched it," Cheryl said. "And every day, he’d go, 'Cheryl, we’re winning, Cheryl, we’re winning.' Because my dad is a true Buckeye. That’s why I’m a true Buckeye, he made me a true Buckeye."
Cheryl described her father as "the most generous man you would ever meet."
"My dad could be walking down the street. If he saw someone without shoes on, he would take his shoes off and give it to that person. That is my dad and I’m not making that up," Cheryl said.
When they'd go out to eat, even though he had Alzheimer's and didn't know who anyone was, he'd talk to everyone in the restaurant, Cheryl said.
"He was the most beautiful man you could ever meet," Cheryl said.
Stanley Morse died at age 88, the day before Easter, one week after his family learned he'd been exposed to COVID-19 at the Alliance nursing home where he lived.
"They did everything in their power to protect him," Cheryl said. "And this is just rampant in the nursing homes, it’s just tragic what it’s doing."
Stanley, who had COPD in addition to Alzheimer's, came down with symptoms quickly and deteriorated each day.
"My dad didn’t eat on Sunday," Cheryl said. "Now, if anybody knows Stan Morse, if he didn’t eat, something is seriously wrong with this guy because he loved his food."
His children were able to FaceTime with him in his last days, thanks to his hospice nurse, whom Cheryl said they had hired as a precaution, not because he was near dying before COVID-19. Stanley still knew all his children in those final days.
"The minute he heard my voice, his eyes opened and he tried to talk. He knew who I was," Cheryl said. "And I said, 'Daddy,' you know, and I just kept talking to him, saying, 'Dad, I’m here,' because [the nurse] was touching him and I wanted him to know it was me."
He may have been 88, but Cheryl said he still had a lot of life left in him and wasn't ready to die. The family had hoped to celebrate his 89th birthday in August.
The hardest part, Cheryl said, is that families can't be there with their loved ones in person at the end.
But Cheryl and her siblings have found comfort in their father's strong Christian faith.
"You know, he died on Holy Saturday, but we know in our heart where he is and he’s looking down on me," Cheryl said.
Cheryl said she sees a male cardinal every night now that her father has passed.
"Male cardinals are supposed to represent a lost one," Cheryl said. "And I say, 'Hi Dad' every day. I’m just like, 'Hi Dad,' cause I know it’s him."
More than a month after his death, Stanley's name was among those 1,000 names featured in The New York Times, just one percent of the Americans who have died.
"I’m proud, but my dad’s gone," Cheryl said. "I’d rather my dad be here and not make any list."
She said she will miss visiting her father once or twice a week and will miss their interactions.
"Every time he saw me, I would walk in that door and first thing he would say, 'Hey baby!' That’s how my dad talked to me," Cheryl said. "It was always like, 'You know what? I love you more than you love me.' And I’m like, 'Dad, I doubt that,' and he goes, 'Nope!'"
Although they've had to say goodbye, Cheryl knows her father was proud of his three children.
"That’s because of you, Dad. We are who we are because of you," Cheryl said. "We are who we are because of our parents."
She urged people to take the virus seriously, including younger people.
"Wear the face mask, respect others out there, because if you lose a loved one, you’re not getting them back," Cheryl said.
The family plans to hold a big celebration of life for Stanley Morse when they're able to come together again.
