1st. David Goldman / Associated Press An image of veteran Charles Lowell is projected onto the home he shared with his wife, Alice, for 30 years as she stands at left with her daughter, Susan Kenney, in Hardwick, Mass. Saturday, May 2, 2020. Lowell, a U.S. Air Force veteran and resident of the Soldier’s Home in Holyoke, Mass., died from the COVID-19 virus at the age of 78. Each of their stories was different, but common strains repeat: Of humility and generosity; of finding joy in the unpretentious; of a sharp mind disappearing into fog or a hale body betrayed by age. And, of service, in war or in peace, that often went unspoken when they returned home. In their final years, these veterans found their place at the Holyoke SoldiersÕ Home in Massachusetts. And in their final days, as the coronavirus engulfed the home and killed more than 70, they found battle again. Seeking to capture moments of private mourning at a time of global isolation, the photographer used a projector to cast large images of veterans on to the homes as their loved ones are struggling to honor them during a lockdown that has sidelined many funeral traditions. Lowell, 78, was a missile guide technician and an IBM operations manager. Along the way, his life was littered with good deeds, the troubled teenager heÕd take in, the hungry family heÕd help with groceries, done with little notice or unmentioned altogether. ÒHe didnÕt tell people things like that,Ó his daughter Susan Kenney says. She remembers a father always teaching her something new and always trying to make people laugh, something his wife, Alice Lowell, says his colleagues appreciated. ÒIt wasnÕt like going to work,Ó she says of the man she knew since she was a child. ÒIt was going to play with Chuck.Ó
2nd. Erin Clark / The Boston Globe RANDOLPH, MA – 10/21/2020 Aliyya S. Sadberry embraces her 8-year-old daughter, Lily Mota-Sadberry, in the parking lot of her daughter’s school in Randolph. Mota-Sadberry is autistic but her family has not been able to transition her into a BPS program because she needs in-person services.
3rd. Faith Ninivaggi / Freelance BPPA PICTURES OF THE YEAR CONTEST IPTC CAPTION TEMPLATE 2020 Portrait of Reena Patel the day before a unilateral mastectomy of her left breast to remove cancer. Photographed in her room at the Marriott Residence in the Seaport where she has been working remotely due to not being able to travel back to Berlin during a global pandemic. Reena will have her surgery at Mass General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, United States August 10, 2020.
HM1. Craig Walker / The Boston Globe Holden, MA – 8/25/2020: Ralph Trotto talks about his mother Frannie, a nursing home resident who died of COVID-19, while sitting for portrait at his home in Holden, MA. Over three days, medical workers moved 137 elderly women and men, many with dementia, out of their familiar rooms at Beaumont Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center in Worcester, loaded them into ambulances, and scattered them among 18 facilities. Trotto was infuriated when Beaumont management told his family that Frannie was being uprooted from her home of three years. Bad news came quickly. Within three days she tested positive for COVID-19. She died soon after.
HM2. David Goldman / Associated Press Teyonna Lofton, 18, shows the scars from surgeries to graft a vein from her leg to increase blood flow in her arm where she was shot, while sitting outside her home in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood in Chicago, Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. Lofton, a beaming high school graduate, had just been honored by friends and family with a car parade. As she waited at a gas station to buy a soft drink, shots rang out, and she fell hard. She prayed she would not die. In a chaotic year destined for the history books, Auburn Gresham, a Black community in Chicago, has written its own grim chapter, enduring a deadly virus, economic misery and gun violence, a constant state of turmoil that mirrors the tumult afflicting much of urban America.
HM3. Erin Clark / The Boston Globe VINEYARD HAVEN, MA – 9/18/2020 John Kerry, 68th United States Secretary of State, poses for a portrait at the Gannon and Benjamin Boatyard on Martha’s Vineyard. When he was secretary of state, Kerry was an architect of the 2015 Paris Climate accord to reduce greenhouse gases globally. Recently, he has helped launched a new fund that attempts to put a global price on carbon emissions. Economists believes doing so can incentivize the marketplace to manage climate risk and invest in innovation. 21LEUNG REPORTER: Shirley Leung
HM4. Angela Rowlings / Freelance Girls huddle together for warmth as they wait to have their portraits taken for a Sweet 16 party on February 29, 2020.
HM5. Douglas Hook / MassLive Brazilian Indigenous Rights Activist Célia Xakriabá at Smith College. Activists from Mighty Earth, Divest Smith College, Extinction Rebellion Western Massachusetts and Western Mass Committee for Democracy in Brazil welcomed Indigenous Rights Activist Sônia Guajajara and Célia Xakriabá who gave a talk at Smith College.
HM6. Craig Walker / The Boston Globe Boston, MA – 10/6/2020: Owner Julie King holds back tears at Villa Mexico Cafe on Water Street in Boston, MA. A customer had walked out while she was on the phone with another customer who was trying to negotiate the price of an order. Having lost two customers in a matter of minutes she said, “I’m going to cry.” King and her daughter Bessie opened the Water Street eatery in 2016. This was supposed to be a milestone year for the Kings. They were set to pay off their loans and own Villa Mexico outright, and had planned a block party on Water Street to celebrate. But 2020 didnÕt go as planned. The Kings have used savings, donations, and other aid to cover rent and payroll throughout the shutdown. Outdoor dining got them through the summer Ñ just barely Ñ with additional help from salsa sales. Bessie took a second job to bring in extra money.
