[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 212 (Tuesday, December 15, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S7491]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Remembering Walter Rasich

  The first person I will talk about is Walter Rasich. Walter moved 
into Whitehall Manor, which is a long-term care facility in Whitehall, 
PA. That is in Lehigh County, which is on the eastern border of our 
State, on the border just next to New Jersey, the so-called Lehigh 
Valley.
  Walter moved into that long-term care facility in October of 2019. 
Walter's son Andy shared his story with my office.
  Walter Rasich was a widower, and he has two sons and two daughters. 
He was a beloved grandfather to eight and a great-grandfather to seven. 
He was also an avid toy collector of Matchbox cars. Some of Walter's 
pastimes were working in the garage, hunting and fishing with his 
children, and also being with his grandchildren and his great-
grandchildren.
  Walter retired after 42 years, working as an electrical inspector for 
the steel industry.
  Walter's nursing home locked down when the pandemic hit, and his 
family, like so many American families, was no longer allowed to visit. 
On April 20, 2020--that was a Monday--his son received a call that his 
father was going to the hospital with a fever of 102. Walter's family 
learned that Walter had passed away on April 24, just 4 days later--
Thursday, April 24, 2020. He was 86 years old. They learned that he was 
the third resident of his nursing home to die of COVID-19.
  So we express our condolences to Walter's family.