Jews in the D

14 | APRIL 30 • 2020 

‘More Than Just Statistics’:
Losing a Loved One During COVID-19

Funeral homes and family members move through unfamiliar territories 
after losing a loved one during the COVID-19 pandemic.

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER

continued on page 16

D

uring this unprecedented time, 
funeral homes and families of those 
who have lost loved ones to the 
coronavirus are searching for ways to nav-
igate unfamiliar ways of mourning. While 
private graveside services and streamed 
online services are occurring, families still 
are searching for that fulfilled sense of hon-
oring and memorializing their loved ones.
Jonathan Dorfman, co-owner of the 
Dorfman Chapel in Farmington Hills, told 
the Jewish News that around 70% of funer-
als in the past month have been COVID 
related.
“The hard part right now is just families 
not being allowed to be there with their 
family members and not being able to cel-
ebrate their lives like they normally would,
” 
Dorfman said. “Everything is being limited 
to 10 people or fewer, so it is just a difficult 
time emotionally for families and for us, 
too.
”
Dorfman and the staff are making sure 
they are available to honor the wishes of 
families they are working with.
“Trying to help families has been very 
difficult for us. We are trying to livestream 
all services so families can have others out 
of state watch the service,
” Dorfman said. 
“One of the options a lot of people have 
talked about is doing something at a later 
date, maybe some type of public memori-
al service, or we have been talking about 
doing Zoom shivahs right now so they can 
still help celebrate their life in a way that 
works right now.
”
Jacquelyn Bell lost her mother, JoAnn 
Bell, 73, on March 30 due to the coronavi-
rus. The family had a private family grave-
side service officiated by Rabbi Tamara 
Kolton on April 2. JoAnn was a beloved 
wife of 51 years to Marshall Bell, mother of 

Jacquelyn and Gregory, and nana to Jonah 
and Riley Bell.
JoAnn Bell was living in TowneHall 
Place, an assisted living facility in West 
Bloomfield, because she was battling multi-
ple sclerosis. On March 27, she was admit-
ted to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Pontiac 
and diagnosed with double pneumonia.
“The hardest part for us, and I believe 
for her, too, was knowing she was all alone 
there,
” Jacquelyn Bell said. “Usually my dad, 
my brother and I would go visit constantly, 
but instead we had to just receive updates 
from the doctors and nurses. On March 28, 
her test came back positive for COVID-19.
”
Each day her mother’
s progression wors-
ened, before she passed away on March 30. 
Due to the gathering restrictions, the family 
had to have a private family graveside ser-
vice with only immediate family there. They 
streamed the funeral online so other family 
and friends could watch it.
“In the Jewish community, especially, 
you have this funeral where you can show 
your respect to the family and can see your 
friends, and I would have been able to be 
close to her and this was just devastating 

trying to make funeral arrangements,
” Bell 
said. “We could only have 10 people at the 
graveside service, and we all had to social 
distance ourselves from each other. We 
couldn’
t even comfort each other and truly 
be there for one another.
”
However, Bell is grateful for the Ira 
Kaufman Chapel and Rabbi Kolton for pro-
viding as much comfort as they could, given 
the circumstances. Besides the live-stream 
service, they had family and friends send in 
emails and messages about the memories 
they once shared with her mother.
“Whenever anyone thinks of my mom, 
they just think of her big smile. She just 
had this huge smile and would be so happy 
whenever anyone would come visit her,
” 
Bell said. “This just feels like a fresh, open 
wound because I don’
t feel like we were able 
to have the proper closure and memorialize 
her the way it should have been.
”
David Techner of the Ira Kaufman 
Chapel in Southfield told the JN that rough-
ly 20-25 funerals they have overseen in the 
past 5 weeks have been related to COVID-
19. However, that number could be higher. 
If somebody was not tested for the virus 

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JACQUELYN BELL

RIGHT: The Bell family: JoAnn, Marshall, son Gregory, daughter Jacquelyn and grandchildren Jonah and Riley.

JoAnn Bell
and husband
Marshall Bell

