Jana Prince, a Selfless Social Worker, Dies at 43 - The New York Times

sanirbanir.blogspot.com

This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.

As someone with cerebral palsy, Jana Marie Prince had plenty of her own problems, but friends and family members say she was most interested in helping other people with theirs.

“The illness affected the entire left side of her body,” her brother Paul Anthony Prince Jr. said in a phone interview. “I can remember when we were small she was teased about it. She never let that stop her from reaching her goals. She dedicated her life to social services. She wanted to give back and touch lives.”

Ms. Prince, who was 43 and lived in Marrero, La., a New Orleans suburb, died of the new coronavirus at a hospital in Gretna, La., on April 6. But that was just the beginning of a terrible month of April for the Prince family.

Ms. Prince, a New Orleans native, was born on Dec. 10, 1976, to Barbara and Paul Prince. She graduated from Xavier University Preparatory School and Southern University at New Orleans, where she received a bachelor’s degree in social welfare. In the ensuing years she held social work positions with the Metropolitan Human Services District, the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Covenant House and, most recently, the Salvation Army.

Her brother said he, Ms. Prince and their brother Delvin enjoyed a stable upbringing, something his sister knew was not true for many children in the New Orleans area.

“New Orleans is a rough city if you don’t have the right household,” he said. “My sister just wanted to reach people who didn’t have the advantages here, in her home city, that she had. On weekends she would meet with kids, talk to kids, try to guide them through life.”

Ms. Prince had a guide of her own: her mother, Barbara Ann Davis Prince.

“If you’d see one you saw the other,” Mr. Prince said. “They always were together.”

On April 9, at a hospital in Slidell, La., Barbara Prince, too, succumbed to the virus, at age 65. She was born on April 16, 1954, in New Orleans, graduated from L.W. Higgins High School and had been a customer service representative at a bank. Her husband died in 2009.

Helping Jana, Paul Prince Jr. said, had been her passion.

“My mom was very protective of her,” he said. “Unfortunately, she couldn’t protect her from this.”

The virus was not done with Mr. Prince’s family: On April 28 his uncle William Davis, 74, a Vietnam veteran who had retired from the Avondale Shipyard, died of it. Mr. Prince said he might have weathered a case of it himself, though he had not been able to get tested. Others in the extended family, a close-knit group, had also shown symptoms.

“We have faith,” Mr. Prince said, “and we’re holding on to that.”

Let's block ads! (Why?)

"social" - Google News
May 07, 2020 at 05:34AM
https://ift.tt/2Wazjgc

Jana Prince, a Selfless Social Worker, Dies at 43 - The New York Times
"social" - Google News
https://ift.tt/38fmaXp
https://ift.tt/2WhuDnP

Bagikan Berita Ini