“Woman's obituary blames unvaccinated for her COVID-19 death: 'The cost was her life’.” Is it wrong for Christians to be angry?

Candace Cay Ayers

JUNE 28, 1955 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2021

She was vaccinated. 

She wore a mask at all times. 

Her entire family was innoculated. 

She was a fighter. 

She was angry. 

However, she suffered from rheumatoid arthritis. 

And she made a major mistake in July. 

She traveled to visit an unvaccinated friend whose husband had passed away from Covid.

Doctors had cleared her to make the trip.

But today, she is one of the more than 600,000 victims of Covid-19. 

Candace Ayers: She thought she was safe

The 66-year-old Illinois woman was very vocal about people who did not secure the vaccination for Covid and those who did not wear masks. However, when her friend’s husband passed away, she wanted to help.

And she thought that because she and her husband were vaccinated, they were safe, according to her son, Marc,

In mid-July, Candace and Terry Ayers drove to Mississippi to visit an unvaccinated friend whose husband had earlier had COVID-19 and passed away. Everyone thought the couple would be safe since they were both vaccinated and breakthrough cases around that time were rare, their son said.

“I wish there was better science out at the time that said maybe they should stay home, maybe these precautions are good for regular people, but (not) for the immunocompromised. I wish doctors had not cleared my mom to travel to Mississippi.”

As the couple drove back home five days later, Candace Ayers already felt very fatigued and later developed joint pain, nausea and a cough, Marc Ayers recalled. She tested positive for COVID-19 on July 28, while her husband tested positive three days later. His case was mild, but she continued to deteriorate.

A. Pawlowski, “Woman's obituary blames unvaccinated for her COVID-19 death: 'The cost was her life’,” Yahoo, September 15, 2021

The obit was brutal

When the family wrote the obituary, a daughter was clear about what caused her mother’s death,

Candace Cay Ayers

JUNE 28, 1955 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2021

Springfield, IL-Candace Cay (Kruger) Ayers, 66, of Springfield, passed away on September 3, 2021 at St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, IL. 

She was preceded in death by more than 4,531,799 others infected with covid-19. She was vaccinated but was infected by others who chose not to be. The cost was her life.

Dignity Memorial.com

Take the vaccine, use masks

In national interviews, they were very clear about what killed their mother,

Her condition deteriorated quickly and she died on Sept. 3, three weeks after being placed on a ventilator.

“Mom was a fighter… and mom was so angry at people for not getting vaccinated and not wearing a mask,” Marc Ayers, 36, told TODAY.

“Mom was very vocal about people who just refused to take those precautions and so we thought it was a good idea to put that in the obituary and make a statement out of it.”

His sister, Amanda, wrote the obituary, with the family hoping it would inspire people to get vaccinated and continue to take precautions as COVID-19 cases spike.

A. Pawlowski, Yahoo, September 15, 2021

Is it wrong for Christians to be angry?

Anger is a natural human emotion, as is forgiveness. Is it un-Christian to blame others for the death of someone close to you?

No. Those who are alleged Christians and do not follow the second greatest commandment, “love thy neighbor as thyself,” who fail to do so by taking a vaccination and failing to use masks, will have to face their creator at some point. 

I do not believe that God simply forgives sins through confession. Only by penance can a person be truly forgiven. 

And that take acknowledgment that you were wrong in the first place. 

I am not worried about it for myself. I don’t even  believe in heaven and hell any longer. Contemporary religion has taken that from me. 

That is why I formed the Community of Matthew. 

But, for those who do, they will have a difficult time entering that kingdom without that penance.