Raleigh, NC – Jan Liggins monitors the daily coronavirus statistics in North Carolina, asking what could have happened if the pandemic hadn’t been so bad.
“I always look at that number when it appears on TV, but I’m like, ‘It must be one less. It must be 10 less,” said Liggins. “This pandemic didn’t have to go that far if people did the right things and continued to be safe.”
North Carolina surpassed 10,000 deaths during the pandemic on Tuesday. Liggins’ father, Ricky David Liggins, 70, was one of them.
“I never thought this would happen to us,” said Jan Liggins. “That’s the first thing you think. You never think it will happen to you or your family.”
Ricky Liggins joined the Marine Corps reserves and became a police officer in Raleigh, where he eventually rose to commanding officer and served on the SWAT team.
“He loved working with people and thought it would be a good opportunity to help others,” said his wife, Deborah Liggins, about his career in law enforcement. “’He felt like it was a calling.
The couple met as a teenager at a blind date for a ball at the National Guard Armory in Zebulon and married in August 1969.
“When we grew up, we did just about everything together and it was fun. It was a lot of fun, ”said Jan Liggins of the close family.
Ricky Liggins maintained close family ties with his only granddaughter, Adriana Liggins.
“He was so close to her. He took her shopping, eating and stuff,” said Deborah Liggins.
“I used to call him every night before I went to bed,” said Adriana Liggins, now a 21-year dance graduate at Meredith College.
“He never missed any of my dance recitals, even at Meredith,” she said. “After [each], he would say, ‘Oh, you did so well.’
Ricky Liggins, who retired from the Raleigh Police Department in 2000, thought he had a cold last fall but started coughing up blood. His wife took him to WakeMed.
“Of course, I couldn’t get in and it was the last time I saw him until he passed away,” she said. “It was a terrible, terrible experience.”
Tests showed he had coronavirus, and his symptoms were so severe that he ended up on a respirator in the intensive care unit.
“I think it was a shock to him, because he was always very healthy,” said Deborah Liggins. “He said to me, ‘I shouldn’t be here.’ He took his vitamins, he worked out, he exercised regularly, he ate well. “
When the family was able to speak to him on the phone, the conversations were brief because of his difficulty in breathing, she said.
“I never knew anything about his feelings and what was happening to him,” said his wife. “I still had hopes [for recovery]. He was the strongest person I have ever met. He was never afraid of anything, and he was like my Superman, my hero. “
But then Ricky Liggins suffered a stroke related to the virus and a neurologist told the family to prepare for the worst.
“He said, ‘If he can do it – and I really don’t think he can do it – he will never know who you are. He will need care 24 hours a day,'” said Deborah Liggins.
She knew he would not like to receive life support, so she, her daughter and granddaughter dressed in protective clothing to visit him briefly in the ICU and say goodbye.
Ricky Liggins died on November 4.
“He fought. He fought a lot,” said Deborah Liggins.
Raleigh police officers saluted the flag-covered coffin when it was buried in the Zebulon Memorial Gardens of Gethsemane.
“He’s buried with his flip phone,” said Adriana Liggins over the phone he called her all the time. “It was taped. He loved his flip phone.”