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From Left, Delia Ramos, Betty Fuentes, and Ana Flores embrace in prayer in Harlingen on March 11, 2021.
Coronavirus in Texas

Widows of the pandemic: Three South Texas women lost their husbands but found solace in one another

Ricardo Ramos, Ramon Fuentes III and Andres Arguelles were all 45. Loving husbands. Strangers who died with the coronavirus in neighboring South Texas cities. They left behind young widows who found each other in Facebook groups and bonded over the similarities in their stories.

Tina Jones poses with a portrait of her husband Brian Jones in the pecan orchard he planted when they first moved onto their new land in Ennis. They watched the saplings grow into trees over 18 years, and during the fall of 2020 they for the first time grew enough pecans for Brian to make a pecan pie. Brian passed at the age of 52 on January 12 from COVID-19. 


Tina Jones identifies as female, Caucasian, non-latino.
Valerie Villegas with a portrait of her late husband Robert Villegas at her home in Portland.  Robert died from COVID-19 on January 25, 2021.
Beatrice Fuentes kneels on a mesquite tree with her husband's initials carved in the trunk. March, 5. 2021
Delia Ramos, center, holds a photo of her and her husband Ricardo with her daughter, right, and son TKTKTKT. Ricardo died in July 2020. Brownsville on March 7, 2021.
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Ana Flores holds a framed photo of her husband Andres Arguelles in Brownsville on March 7, 2021.
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