Family mourns 100-year-old matriarch who died of COVID-19

When Jim Crewe finally got to see his mother, sick with COVID-19 and in palliative care, it was too late to say goodbye. She was alive but she didn't know who he was.

By that time, pandemic restrictions had separated Pearl Crewe, age 100, from any physical contact with family for weeks first at her personal-care home, then when she was admitted to hospital.

"I had a call from the doctor in Grand Falls and he said, 'Your mom is going to be termed as palliative and in that situation, we will admit you to come in and visit her.' I did that Tuesday night for a couple of hours," said Jim Crewe. "She didn't recognize us, of course, [she was] struggling to breathe."

Shortly after that final visit, around 3:45 a.m. last Wednesday, Pearl Crewe slipped away.

"Her main problem was that her oxygen levels, they couldn't keep them up without the use of an oxygen mask. That's what took her from us," said Jim Crewein an interview Thursday.

Changes to visitor rules came day after death

Hours after Pearl Crewe's death, Newfoundland and Labrador's health minister hinted changes were coming to allow visitors back into hospitals, and long-term and personal-care homes.

On Thursday, as loved ones gathered in Lewisporte for her funeral, those changes came into effect a relief for many people across the province, but an announcement that came too late for the Crewes.

One of Pearl Crewe's final cogent conversations occurred with a health-care worker at the Central Newfoundland Health Centre. Two days before her death, Jim Crewe asked the attending nurse to tell his mother that she was loved by her family.

"When we got there Tuesday night, that same nurse was on duty," said Jim Crewe. "I said, 'What was her response?' and she said, 'Yes, and I love them too.'

"I couldn't avail of that time. Even a day or two earlier, it would have made so much difference."

Flexibility needed for families

Jim Crewe said he understands the need for visitors restrictions in health-care settings, but he fears for other families cut off from their loved ones.

"There's a significant minority who have family members who are struggling through COVID and there is a sense of futility at the same time, of helplessness, there's nothing you can do," he said.

Despite the pain of the last week, he isn't angry.

"Anger doesn't achieve anything positive, so you stay positive because that's the only viable option. You persevere. And if you have any sense of faith in providence and the Almighty, there's a certain respite in that," he said.

As he grieves for his mother, Jim Crewe said he'd rather celebrate her skills as a parent, her belief in education and her resilience in the face of adversity.

Born Feb. 27, 1921, Pearl Crewe grew up in Campbellton, Notre Dame Bay, as the world recovered from another pandemic: the Spanish flu. Her mother died when Pearl was 15 and as the eldest child, she would soon help raise four younger siblings before starting a family of her own.

In 1951, when Jim Crewe was a boy and the family lived in Humbermouth, now part of Corner Brook, his mother contracted another highly infectious respiratory disease:tuberculosis.

"Going through her personal items in the home where she resided in Lewisporte, I came across the card which verified that she was free from tuberculosis," said Jim Crewe. "How ironic it is, how things go full circle, as an older adult to be brought back to the days of my childhood, you know?"

CBCNews helped Pearl Crewe celebrate her 100th birthday last March, when COVID-19 restrictions kept family members from entering personal-care or long-term care facilities.

"We were looking forward to a follow up this Feb. 27, and of course, it wasn't to be," said Jim Crewe.

A funeral for Pearl Crewe was held Friday in Lewisporte.

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