Transcendients: Memorial to Healthcare Workers
Died 29 April 2020
CHAD EDDINGER
RACE/ETHNICITY White
OCCUPATION Housekeeping aide
LOCATION Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
AGE 49
CONCERNS ABOUT ADEQUATE PPE? Unknown/Other
Veteran remembered for his love for laughter
Chad Eddinger was determined to enlist in the Marines right after high school, at 18. He served in Desert Storm before joining the Navy.
Once he returned to civilian life, he completed a degree in mass communications and pursued his love of music, providing technical support for a local rock station’s remote broadcasts.
He was known for a great sense of humor, said Eddinger’s mother, Mary Ellen Ravis. She doesn’t have a photo of him without a smile.
“He’d put on a movie and already be in a serious belly laugh during the opening credits,” Ravis recalled.
Eddinger worked at the local VA, handling hazardous waste, for about a decade. On 15 April, he told his mother he had tested positive for Covid-19 and that he contracted the virus at work. She was uncertain whether he had used personal protective equipment.
Wilkes Barre VA did not respond to requests for comment.
When breathing became a struggle, Eddinger was hospitalized. The day before he died, Eddinger called his mother, saying he was in pain and asking her to come get him. Ravis is haunted that she couldn’t.
“Covid-19 killed our son, he was alone and scared” is written on the front window of her home.
― Kathleen Horan