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Iola Mae Herviey poses with the youngest of her children, Darryll Fortune, believed to be five-years-old in this photograph.
Iola Mae Herviey was one of the first people to die of the coronavirus while living at Riverbend Post Acute Rehabilitation, the Kansas City, Kansas, facility where 36 others died. Riverbend has had the most COVID-19 deaths of any nursing home in the state.
Iola Mae Herviey loved her nine children with such a fierce protectiveness her kids felt sorry for anyone who got in their way.
Herviey was strict, determined to make them into good kids. Her youngest, Darryll Fortune, had heard all the stories, of course. But something dawned on him about three-quarters into the April funeral for “Moma,” as he and 20 others watched her Zoom service from their respective homes, spread around the country.
Originally published on December 18, 2020 8:49 am
Iola Mae Herviey loved her nine children with such a fierce protectiveness her kids felt sorry for anyone who got in their way.
Herviey was strict, determined to make them into good kids. Her youngest, Darryll Fortune, had heard all the stories, of course. But something dawned on him about three-quarters into the April funeral for “Moma,” as he and 20 others watched her Zoom service from their respective homes, spread around the country.
“Wait a minute! Why is everybody talking about my Moma whooping ass?” he said. “I mean, everybody talked about her spanking and cussing folks out and it s like, wait! And we just all bust up laughing.”