EPCC trustee says dad has now died of virus too on day his wife was to be laid to rest

EL PASO, Texas -- An elected member of the El Paso Community College Board of Trustees who lost her mother to Covid-19 last month, has now lost her father who had been hospitalized with the virus too.

Bonnie Soria Najera, who is EPCC's district 7 trustee for the Lower Valley, said in a post on social media that the cornavirus claimed the life of her father, Leo Soria, on Wednesday morning. His death comes on the day that funeral services had been scheduled for his wife Rosie; those services are now postponed.

Leo Soria, who worked as a security guard at Carroll T. Welch Elementary School in Clint, was placed on a ventilator within an hour after his wife had passed away back on May 22.

Both were hospitalized after contracting the virus through unknown means, which had prompted Najera to deliver an impassioned plea at the time to fellow El Pasoans imploring them to avoid mass gatherings, wear face masks and stay home when possible to stop the virus' spread in the community.

Najera had said in an interview last month with ABC-7 that she didn't want any other El Paso family to have to suffer the "pain, anger, frustration and sadness" of the tragic loss that she has had to endure.