etichy@post-journal.com
Jamestown resident Carrie Wolfgang is pictured with photographs of Brian Bernhardt, her longtime partner who died of COVID-19 on April 26 at UPMC Hamot in Erie, Pa. âWe really thought that we had got past this. We really thought that we had made it,â she said.
Carrie Wolfgang assumed the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic had passed.
The numbers, released daily by the Chautauqua County Department of Health and reported by the media, had long come down from the early months of the pandemic when dozens if not hundreds of new confirmed cases were recorded.
But that didn’t mean Wolfgang and her longtime partner, Brian Bernhardt, didn’t take the threat of COVID-19 and its impact seriously for more than a year. She previously had pneumonia and thus a weakened immune system while Bernhardt who long preferred a quiet, personal lifestyle that often kept him indoors and away from people had virtually no immune system at all.
Apr 28, 2021
Brian Donald Bernhardt of 208 Parkview Avenue in Jamestown lost his hard battle against COVID on April 26, 2021, while at UPMC Hamot in Erie, Pa.
Born October 16, 1962 in Jamestown, NY, he was 58 years old.
He leaves behind his domestic partner and love of his life, Carrie C. Wolfgang, his stepsons Jesse Wolfgang of Warren, PA and Lucas Wolfgang of Jamestown, NY and a grandson, Tanner White of North East, Pa. He is also survived by his sister, Laurie Adatepe (Scott McCort) of Mercer, PA and his niece, Alicia Garcia (Bikelby) of Yorktown Heights, NY along with his great-niece, Abigail Garcia and his great-nephew, Mateo Garcia. Their calls, visits and photos were a source of great joy to Brian.