HYANNIS Denise Harris has a binder full of about 120 printed emails.
Most are from family members of Cape Cod’s more than 460 COVID-19 victims. In each email, the sender expresses gratitude for Harris’ work to build a memorial at the Airport Rotary to honor those lost to the pandemic.
The memorial Harris’ way of grieving for her own father during a time when traditional mourning rituals were limited to prevent further spread of the disease will soon have a new home.
At 10 a.m. Sunday, the flags will be replanted at the small park at 725 Main St., near the West End Rotary. Harris expects to be joined by others who have lost someone they loved.
Installation set for Sunday, May 2, 8 a.m. at the Hyannis Airport Rotary
Cape Cod Times
When he wasn’t working for Safe Harbor, a shelter for women and children made homeless by domestic violence, Dennis Brandao drove for Uber.
He didn’t need the money, his daughter Denise Harris said. For nearly 40 years, Brandao owned and operated a chain of Cape Cod tuxedo stores called Dennis-John Formals. He just loved to drive around and talk to people.
“It was like he never met a stranger,” Harris said. “He always became friends with anybody he met.”
Brandao died Jan. 26 at the age of 77 after contracting the coronavirus. When word of his death spread on social media, Harris was flooded with Facebook messages from people she’d never met.
Dennis Brandao, 77, of Osterville, Mass., died on Jan. 26, 2021, after becoming ill with COVID-19. He’s among the more than 556,000 Americans who have succumbed to the disease since the first known fatality in the U.S. in early 2020.
Brandao’s daughter, Denise Harris, told Yahoo News that her father was a loving husband, father and grandfather. “He had a heart of gold, and a smile that lit up worlds,” Harris said.
When he wasn’t working for Safe Harbor, a shelter for women and children made homeless by domestic violence, Dennis Brandao drove for Uber.
He didn’t need the money, his daughter Denise Harris said. For nearly 40 years, Brandao owned and operated a chain of Cape Cod tuxedo stores called Dennis-John Formals. He just loved to drive around and talk to people.
“It was like he never met a stranger,” Harris said. “He always became friends with anybody he met.”
Brandao died Jan. 26 at the age of 77 after contracting the coronavirus. When word of his death spread on social media, Harris was flooded with Facebook messages from people she’d never met.