But after more than two weeks in a Wisconsin hospital, the IT project manager from Cheverly, Md., died on March 29 of complications from covid-19. He had arrived in Wisconsin earlier that month to oversee the installation of a computer system at St. Agnes Hospital in Fond du Lac, where he died. It’s unclear if he worked on-site.

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Capule’s family remembered him as a cheerful and inquisitive man who was known as a peacemaker. He pored over his father’s National Geographic magazines and read the dictionary and encyclopedias as a child. He was fond of British shows, such as “Doctor Who,” and trivia games. For eight years, he organized a trivia fundraiser for the Rotary Club of Dupont Circle, his wife said. He even appeared on one episode of “Jeopardy!” in 2015.

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“Chad is the love of my life; he’s my best friend,” said Starkweather, who tested positive for the virus after she traveled to Wisconsin. “I’m devastated and heartbroken.”

“This virus offers a very lonely death for people. Family can’t be with you when you die. You can’t have physical gatherings of people to mourn you at your funeral,” she said.

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The youngest of three, Capule was born in the Philippines and immigrated to Northern Virginia in elementary school. He graduated from the University of Virginia with a major in history and a minor in computer science, his family said.

Starkweather recalled that she first saw Capule when he appeared at her desk fixing her computer at the educational development nonprofit they both worked at in the District.

“I just knew in my heart this is the man I want to be with for the rest of my life,” she said.

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Capule’s sister, Benilda Capule, 51, recalled that her brother was looking forward to the party Starkweather was planning for his birthday on July 26.

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It was going to be a grand affair with more than 200 guests, games such as Dungeons and Dragons, trivia and karaoke.

The three siblings would sing Frank Sinatra and Abba songs during karaoke, said Benilda Capule, who lives in Manhattan. She would join her brother in his rendition of “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” from “Monty Python’s Life of Brian.”

“He always looks for the brighter side of life,” she said, breaking into song over the phone.

Capule brought his two sisters back together after they had a falling out over the food that was served at a family gathering more than a dozen years ago.

“He listens to both sides and has this incredible talent of explaining to us, letting us see what we are not able to see when we are angry, letting us see how to be compassionate when we couldn’t find that in our heart,” said his sister Angie Capule Fontanilla, who lives in Chantilly, Va.

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He and Starkweather drove to New York to comfort Benilda Capule when her cat died.

“He just always knew how to comfort and cheer me up. I wish I could’ve been there by his side to do the same, but you can’t. With all the covid patients, you can’t do that,” she said tearfully.

Starkweather said Capule arrived in Wisconsin on March 4 and had a fever on March 5. He went to an urgent care clinic and was told he probably had the flu, and he was sent home with Tylenol.

The fever continued as he worked from his hotel room.

He went to the emergency room at St. Agnes on March 8 and went through a covid-19 screening process, Starkweather said. She said a nurse later told her that he didn’t meet the criteria for a covid-19 test because he hadn’t traveled internationally, she said.

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Capule returned to the emergency room on March 10 because he had shortness of breath, one of the symptoms of covid-19. He was diagnosed with pneumonia, tested for covid-19 and told to quarantine in his hotel room, his wife said.

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He tested positive for the virus on March 11.

She had arrived in Wisconsin earlier in the week and quarantined herself in the same hotel.

On March 12, Capule complained that he couldn’t breathe. His fingers started to turn blue. His wife went to his room to check on him and called the ambulance.

He was admitted to the hospital that evening. Hours later, he was intubated and put on a ventilator, Starkweather said. She was asymptomatic but tested positive for the virus.

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Starkweather said she doesn’t know how they contracted the virus. Her husband has a family history of hypertension but no other underlying medical conditions.

At one point, Capule went into cardiac arrest and had heart surgery, his wife said.

On March 28, a doctor suggested the family should think about whether to take him off life support. She refused at first.

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“I said as long as there was a chance that he was going to make it, I wanted them to do whatever they could to keep him alive,” she said.

But she decided to take him off life support the next day.

Starkweather called Capule. Once again, the nurses placed the phone on his chest so he could hear her voice.

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“I was trying not to be too frightened for him. So, I was trying to be upbeat, but I was in agony. He was too full of life, and this was way too soon for him,” she said.