The loss was sudden, but the grieving process is prolonged. Two families in opposite ends of Saskatchewan that knew little about each other prior to the COVID-19 pandemic — and have never met — are going through very similar experiences right now, after losing loved ones to the disease.
Alice Grove, 75, likely contracted the novel coronavirus in the North Battleford area in early-to-mid March. It was around that same time that Noble “Butch” Gullacher, 69, became ill with it in Regina.
Neither Grove nor Gullacher had recently travelled, but Saskatchewan had not yet acknowledged it was spreading locally. Based on their families’ recollections of their activities and the timeline for developing symptoms, it’s possible that one of them, if not