4 of his family members died after contracting COVID. Now, the NJ man lives alone.

Ed Kemble Jr. is not sure how the coronavirus first entered his home.

He lost four family members after they contracted COVID-19 last year: his wife, younger brother, mother-in-law and sister-in-law, all with serious illnesses.

Kemble Jr.’s wife could have picked up on her retail job, the aides who looked after her brother could have taken him inside, or he could have contracted the virus at work. Ultimately, it’s a mystery, said the Burlington County man.

“It may have come from many different directions. It is invisible. You can’t see it, so you can’t know where it came from, ”said Kemble Jr., a volunteer firefighter and truck driver.

Now, the 61-year-old man is living alone in Riverside’s home that everyone shared and telling the story of how the coronavirus affected his family. He hopes that this will encourage others to take the virus seriously and follow the guidelines for social detachment.

More than 19,900 New Jersey residents have died after contracting COVID-19 since last spring, and entire families have been affected by the disease, experiencing the rare heartache of several funerals.

“People must be informed (the virus) is out there. People (should) keep their distance from each other and obey the rules that everyone says, ”he said.

At one point, Kemble Jr. said that all of his relatives were hospitalized together at the COVID-19 unit at Virtua Willingboro Hospital while he called them at Facetime, unable to see them in person due to limited visitors.

“All I can say is thank God for the iPhones,” he said.

It all started in November, when Kemble Jr. said his wife, Barbara, was taken to the hospital because she was dehydrated due to kidney problems and chest pains. She was tested for coronavirus and the results were positive, he said. Barbara, who had diabetes, ended up being placed in a breathing tube.

In the next two months, she jumped between South Jersey hospitals and rehabilitation facilities, said Kemble Jr., and died on January 16 of a stroke. Before her death, Kemble Jr. said he would leave Jersey Mikes sandwiches and iced tea at the hospital for her – one of her favorite meals – but was not allowed to enter her room.

The two had been married for nearly 40 years, they met when they were teenagers in Riverside. Barbara was president of the Washington Fire Company Ladies Auxiliary in Delanco and a member of the Riverside Emergency Squad and New Jersey Fire Ladies Auxiliary, among other organizations. She has worked for NJM Insurance and AAA Insurance and, most recently, as a cashier at Walmart in Cinnaminson, said Kemble Jr.

“All of our lives are reflected around the fire company,” he said. “We often went out in the city park, playing and stuff.”

“(The coronavirus) contributed to her (health) problems. The cause of her death was a stroke, ”he said.

During Bárbara’s two months of hospitalization, the other members of Kemble Jr.’s family also fell ill.

Her mother-in-law, Ruth Sharp Allen, was taken to the hospital in early December after developing pneumonia and a cough, and the test was positive for coronavirus. She died first on December 2, aged 89.

Five days later, Kemble Jr. said that his younger brother John Daniel Kemble – who was bedridden after losing both legs due to diabetes and was being cared for by home health workers – was taken to the hospital by an emergency squad because he needed emergency dialysis.

He tested positive for COVID-19 at the hospital, said Kemble Jr. The virus made recovery more difficult, and he died of a heart attack on December 7.

Like his wife, Kemble Jr. said his brother loved to help others. He held various positions in the Riverside Emergency Squad as an EMT and was a lifelong member of the Delran Emergency Squad. He drove for United Refrigeration in Pennsauken and was a driver for Riverside Bus.

“John, he answered more than 2,000 ambulance calls (over the years) with Delran and Riverside,” he said.

Less than a week after John’s death, Ruth Allen’s sister Eileen Wolverton, affectionately known as Aunt Eileen, died at Willingboro hospital, said Kemble Jr. She was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in the fall, he said. She also tested positive for COVID-19 and had a severe cough.

She was a member of the female auxiliary team at Delanco / Washington Fire Company, said Kemble Jr., and helped care for Kemble Jr.’s bedridden brother, John.

Riverside volunteer firefighter Kemble Jr. said he was receiving his second dose of the coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday in Burlington County, along with the rest of the company.

But he would like vaccines to have been widely available before, so that his family could have protection. His relatives died when doses were just beginning to be distributed in New Jersey.

“They should be (available),” said Kemble Jr. “There would be a lot of people alive if it were.”

A GoFundMe created for the family raised more than $ 2,200 for Ed Kemble Jr. to help pay for medical bills, household expenses and burial costs. Another GoFundMe campaign initiated by Kemble Jr.’s niece raised more than $ 5,000.

Kemble Jr. said he is planning a memorial service at the Delray Methodist Church, a funeral at the Lakeview Memorial Park in Cinnaminson and a lunch at the Delanco fire department. The date has not yet been set, but he hopes for May.

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Avalon Zoppo can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow her on twitter @AvalonZoppo.