Mom, daughter who worked for Dade schools die of COVID
A South Florida family is mourning after a mother and daughter, both MiamiDade County Public
School employees, died from COVID-19 in August, just days apart.
Lillian Smith, a teacher at Dr. William A. Chapman Elementary School, 27190 SW 140th Ave., was a veteran educator with 45 years of experience in the district. She was also a grandmother.
Her daughter Lakisha Williams had worked 17 years for Miami-Dade public schools and was recently promoted to be the cafeteria manager at a new school this year. The mother of two was in her role for less than a month before COVID-19 struck, her husband told Local 10.
Her mother, Smith, never got the chance to meet her new students.
Both of them were hospitalized for COVID-19 in early August and died just days apart. Both were unvaccinated, Local 10 reports.
Since their deaths, family and friends have taken to Facebook, sharing photos and messages honoring the two women who were gone too soon.
“It don’t feel real at all, you helped me with so many problems ... who am I gonna go to about anything when you was the only person I felt understood me,” Smith’s granddaughter wrote on Facebook Aug. 22. “My birthday is in 5 days grandma ... I promise I’m gonna do right by our name your never gonna be forgotten!”
Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho last month shared his condolences when he was asked about the deaths during an event at South Hialeah Elementary. He said the tragedy was a reminder of how “destructive” COVID-19 can be.
At Chapman Elementary, Smith’s colleagues are also in the process of doing a collection for the family.
“Sometimes, it’s really so hard for me to imagine that she’s gone forever,” said Suzy Burstein, one of Smith’s co-workers who has known her for more than 20 years. She was in Smith’s classroom nearly every day last year providing “support facilitation” to some of her students.
Smith was the type of teacher who “went above and beyond” for her students, who she affectionately called “her kids,” Burstein said.
“I begged her to get vaccinated last year,” but she kept delaying it, Burstein recalled during a phone interview.
“The scariest thing to me was that this didn’t have to happen,” Burstein said. “I’ve also said to myself ‘I failed her. I failed her.’ And that’s something that I’ll always have to live with because I couldn’t convince her.”