Listen • 2:59
The Valdivia siblings, from left to right: Eliseo Jr., Mauricio, Jessica and Jorge. Mauricio died of COVID-19 complications in April at age 52.
This weekend marks one year since the first documented COVID-19 death in the United States.
Like so many families, siblings Jorge and Jessica Valdivia lost a loved one to a virus that has killed more than 451,000 Americans. In April, their brother Mauricio died from complications related to COVID-19. He was 52.
Jorge and Jessica, who both live in Chicago, remembered their big brother, the second oldest of the four Valdivia siblings, during a StoryCorps conversation in December.
"There's always that one person that goes out of their way to say that they love you and they're proud of you. And in our family, that was Mauri," said Jorge, 46.