A retired Mobile accountant and Vietnam veteran who died of the coronavirus will be remembered for his generosity.

Tim Gaston, 73, died on March 27, the first COVID-19 death in Baldwin County, according to Baldwin County EMA.

“He was a great person and was a godly man,” said Pratt Paterson, executive director of Wilmer Hall Children’s Home in Mobile, which Gaston financially supported. “He would do anything for anybody and was supportive of people in need in the community.”

Gaston was a longtime active member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Mobile, Paterson said.

“For a lot of us here, it was the first human face on this,” Paterson said. “It made it real.”

Gaston was a senior partner of the accounting firm Smith, Dukes, and Buckalew in Mobile before he retired in 2019 and moved to Fairhope. He served as senior warden at St. Paul’s and a member of the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast.

“He made this world a better place,” said his daughter, Kathryn Douglas, in a post on Facebook.

10 Alabamians killed by COVID-19

“His smile could light up a room. He was humble but full of life. He adored his family and he had truly never met a stranger. Although we are heartbroken, he won the ultimate race.”

Gaston was born Oct. 31, 1946, in Mobile and grew up in Bay Minette. He graduated from Baldwin County High School and attended Marion Military Institute before transferring to the University of Alabama, where he was a member of the Sigma Nu social fraternity. He left the university to enlist in the U.S. Navy in 1967. He served a tour of duty in Vietnam and was stationed in San Diego. When he returned from his military service, he graduated from the University of Mississippi, and lived in Tupelo, before moving to Mobile in 1975.

Gaston was actively involved in many civic organizations in Mobile, including service on the Board of Directors of Providence Hospital, the Providence Hospital Foundation board, the Mobile Opera board, and the board of the Mobile Museum of Art. He was a member of the Red Elephant Club of Mobile, a prominent member of a Mobile mystic society, a former member of the Mobile Touchdown Club, and a strong supporter of the Child Advocacy Center.

“He loved people; he honestly loved everybody,” said Gilbert Dukes Jr. of Smith, Dukes and Buckalew. “He was just a pleasure to work with for about 45 years. “I really miss him. A lot of people are going to miss him. I’m certain now he’s in absolute perfect peace.”