Carole Reynolds died on April 17 at the age of 80 at the West Acres nursing home, 10 days after she tested positive for COVID-19. Her daughter hopes sharing her mother's story will help save other people's loved ones.

BROCKTON — Joanie Reynolds Daly brought her mother an apple pie and a strawberry-banana smoothie.

She turned on music — Carole Reynold's favorite Mickey Gilley — and danced inside her mother's room at the Alliance Health at West Acres nursing home.

As Carole Renyolds sipped on her smoothie, Joanie Daly brushed her mother's hair and they reminisced on many memories together.

"My mom had dementia, but it was kind of short-term dementia. She was always in the moment," Daly said. "She said to me, 'Do I have the virus?' I said, 'Yes.' She knew she was going to die. She said, 'Well, if it's not one thing, it's another.' She always used to quote that saying from (Saturday Night Live's) Roseanne Roseannadanna. She was cracking jokes right up until the end."

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Daly spent four hours with her mother that night, April 14, as a special end-of-life visit, despite regular visitation being restricted at nursing homes due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was the first time she had been able to physically visit with her — and not just talk on the phone or look at her through her mother's second-floor window — in over a month.

Just over two days later, early in the morning on April 17, Reynolds died at the age of 80 at the Brockton nursing home, 10 days after she tested positive for COVID-19. Daly said her mother had other preexisting health conditions — she had diabetes and was likely in the early stages of congestive heart failure after having stents put in a year ago.

"She said she had no regrets," Daly said. "She had a wonderful life. She said she was so proud of her family."

Reynolds is one of at least 22 residents of the West Acres nursing home who has died after contracting COVID-19.

"It was like something out of a horror movie in that place," Daly said, referring to what she saw when she was inside the nursing home for the final visit with her mother.

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At least 53 residents have tested positive for the coronavirus, but 27 were still recently waiting for results. The nursing home's staff has also been greatly impacted, with at least 23 members infected. A part-time certified nursing assistant at the nursing home died on April 11 after contracting COVID-19. She last worked at the facility in March.

"There were some people that were wearing trash bags around their feet. Some had good protection, some had full personal protective equipment, some didn't," Daly said. "When I walked off the elevator, there were a lot of closed doors. Every room that didn't have a name on the door, I assumed they were deceased. There were several rooms with big COVID-19 warning signs outside the door, including my mom."

Daly knew her mother only had hours or days left when she visited her that Tuesday night. Her condition had started to get progressively worse on April 12, Easter, when Reynolds "crashed" during a Zoom call with family members. But she died peacefully in the end, her daughter said. Reynolds didn't want to go on a ventilator, her daughter said, knowing it would only give her likely up to another week to live, but wouldn't change her condition.

"My brother, Danny, called her on Wednesday night. She couldn't really speak at that point. She was able to say his name, though. Her last words were with him on the phone. I was glad they had that opportunity," Daly said. "We had talked about the ventilator, but we decided on no hospitalization, no ventilator. She wouldn't want it. Maybe I would have needed it. Maybe somebody else would need it. She wanted to keep that available for someone else that needed it."

Reynolds had been at the city nursing home since late May of 2018, after having a heart attack in a Walpole facility and ending up in the intensive care unit. She had almost died then, her daughter said, but recovered and moved into the Brockton nursing home to be closer to Daly's home in Easton.

Daly said she is indebted to the staff at the West Acres nursing home.

"I cannot adequately express my gratitude to West Acres for giving her such a good life and treating her with dignity and respect," Daly said. "She had a lovely room. They were so nice to her and really considered me and my mom part of their family."

'A FULL LIFE'

Reynolds graduated from Boston College in 1961 and went on to teach fourth grade at the Abigail Adams School in Weymouth. She also served as a substitute teacher in Waltham, her hometown.

She was later an administrative assistant to the Sudbury schools superintendent until her retirement in 2000.

Reynolds was a longtime resident of Waltham, where she lived with her late husband, David Reynolds, for 50 years before she moved into her daughter's home in Easton following his death in October 2016.

The Reynolds were country — and world — travelers.

"They traveled the country in their retirement," Daly said. "They visited 49 of 50 states. We took a lot of family trips, too, over the years. We went to Ireland. My mom and I went on many trips to Bermuda. We went up to Boothbay Harbor, Maine, the San Diego Zoo. She really lived a full life."

Many years ago, Reynolds played a part in saving her husband's life and giving him an extra decade-plus to live, Daly said.

"She saved my dad's life. He had an aneurysm while golfing on a trip to New Hampshire," Daly said. "She ended up getting him help and flying him to Boston. His doctor was about to leave for a two-week vacation to Israel. She chased him down and he did his aneurysm surgery and he survived. The doctors had only given him a 3 percent chance of survival. It ended up giving him an extra 10 to 15 years of life."

For those efforts, Daly often called her mother "Dr. Mom," she said.

Reynolds was also an adventurer, her daughter said.

On a 1994 trip to Millinocket, Maine, Reynolds and Daly went white water rafting on the Saco River on Class IV waters, which are described as long, difficult rapids with narrow passages and turbulent water that requires precise maneuvering.

"That was the only camping trip she took in her life and we go white water rafting on Class IV rapids," Daly said. "We got into the boat and she's got a big smile on her face. She was the bravest, smartest person."

That bravery started all the way back in her childhood, when Daly said her mother stood up to a bully, who punched her and knocked her down a flight of stairs.

"She got up, stood up and punched him right back," Daly said.

And that bravery even transferred to wildlife.

On the trip to the San Diego Zoo, Reynolds was feeding a zebra some kibble when the animal latched onto her hand.

"She had to hit the zebra in the face to get her hand back," Daly said. "She just had a lifetime of happy memories. I'm so grateful for the fact that I was able to say goodbye on my own terms."

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

Daly said the community support she's received — and the acts of kindness displayed — since her mother died have made her feel closer to her community than ever before, even with social and physical distancing guidelines in place.

"I'm just so grateful to the community," she said. "We're all social distancing, so the night my mother died, I was in isolation here at home. I couldn't even hug my husband or my brother or my dog Mojo. But even as we have to social distance from family and household members, I've never felt closer to my family and to my community."

Daly was tested for COVID-19 shortly after the end-of-life visit with her mother, which is why she had to stay isolated from family. She initially wasn't sure she was going to be able to attend her mother's funeral, especially if she did test positive, but she learned that she was negative.

She was able to attend the funeral and, following after her mother's humor, wore a "Feeling good" T-shirt she had bought her mother at Walmart that she wore frequently, with a nice jacket that Reynolds had worn to her son's wedding.

The family held the funeral for Reynolds on Thursday, only being able to allow a small number of immediate family members due to the ongoing COVID-19 public health emergency. The family was able to use Zoom and FaceTime to videoconference Daly's youngest brother, who lives in China, into the funeral, which was organized by the Brown & Hickey Funeral Home in Belmont. Our Lady Comforter of the Afflicted Parish in Waltham provided the services.

On the way from Belmont to the cemetery in Arlington where Reynolds was laid to rest, there were "HOPE" signs along the side of the road during the procession.

"One of the last things she said was, 'This too shall pass,' meaning all this horror and difficulty," Daly said, adding that the "HOPE" signs reminded her of Reynold's words.

Those signs were just one of the many positive reminders Daly said she's had since her mother died.

The acts of kindness included Panera in Stoughton doubling the order of 30 boxed lunches and trays of pastries she sent to the staff at West Acres. And the New Hampshire Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children office putting Daly's niece in touch with someone in Brockton to provide her with formula, food and grocery store gift cards in a time of need.

"It reminds me of the circle of life. My mother would want everything for the babies. My mom just loved her babies. She just protected her family and protected them like a mother cub," Daly said. "All my friends, the Brockton community have been amazing."

'SAVE THE PEOPLE THAT ARE LEFT'

Daly said she hopes that sharing her mother's story will help save other people's loved ones.

"I hope they save the people that are left at West Acres, as well as other people that it hasn't hit as hard," she said. "If families are in a similar situation, it's important that they observe the social distancing guidelines so that they will be healthy and able to plan their loved one's funeral."

In Massachusetts, 2,556 residents have died after contracting COVID-19, as of Friday afternoon. About 56 percent, or 1,429 deaths, have come in long-term care facilities, including nursing homes, rest homes and skilled nursing facilities. There were 9,184 cases of the coronavirus in those facilities, including residents and staff, as of Friday afternoon.

In Brockton alone, at least 61 of the city's 115 deaths as of Friday afternoon had come in nursing homes, according to data compiled by The Enterprise.

The Reynolds family, in lieu of flowers, is asking for donations to be made in Carole Reynolds’ name to the Brigham & Women’s Hospital COVID-19 Response Fund (PO Box 414905, Boston, MA, 02241-4905), which was created to aid the hospital in all its efforts to defeat COVID-19.

"It's spreading like wildfire through these facilities," Daly said of nursing homes. "I know it's been a tough week with deaths, but hopefully we can get over the curve and continue the social distancing and protect our most vulnerable. Now, as a cautionary tale with my mom, I hope they'll be able to expand testing to the staff members at West Acres and anybody that has any type of exposure to our loved ones. They need protection. They need to be tested."

Senior reporter Cody Shepard can be reached by email at cshepard@enterprisenews.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @cshepard_ENT.