Atlanta college alumni cheer up mother of coronavirus victim

An 84-year-old Atlanta mother who lost her daughter to the coronavirus admits it has been days since she's had so much fun.

Ernestine Jonson stood at the door of her northwest Atlanta home full of smiles as she watched her fellow graduates of Morris Brown College extend their condolences at an approved social distance Friday afternoon.

On March 19, 65-yer-old Rushia Johnson Stephens succumbed to the deadly virus after she collapsed at home and her husband called 911. Her brother tells FOX 5's Aungelique Proctor a few hours later she was dead of COVID-19 at an Atlanta area hospital. Stephens's mother has been grieving since that time but donned a purple shirt, scarf, and socks for a front yard tribute to her very active daughter.

"We just wanted to come by and say we love you, we support you and it is only for you and my soror Rushia, your daughter, and Kenyatta's sister that we are standing here," Women for Morris Brown President Willene White Smith remarked.

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Smith brought about 12 graduates, a trumpet player and a drummer with her. They were all decked out in the school color of purple and wanted to pay their respects in the era of social distancing, so they stayed on the front lawn.

They sang songs, recited a poem and exchanged pleasantries, telling Mrs. Johnson that they were praying for her and her family in the time of loss. Mrs. Johnson dance and cheered and told the group she loved and appreciated them coming by.

"I want everybody to know we are all family in some kind of way I had been laying around here grieving, but I put my clothes on today and you have made me feel better. I love you all," the 1966 graduate exclaimed.

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Rushia worked at the DeKalb County courthouse most recently but had been a director at the North Atlanta School of the Arts. One of her former students stopped by, despite Atlanta's order to stay at home, to pay her respects.

"I remember being a freshman and got my first solo in the Messiah and she said, Darling, you must perform. The stage is yours. There will never be anyone like Rushia. She was amazing, former student Zipporah Taylor recalled.

Johnson Stephens was married to a retired DeKalb County judge. She was a mother and grandmother and will be missed by many of her sorority sisters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. Her funeral is closed to the public but it will be Saturday at 1 p.m. at Murray Brother's funeral home. The family has asked those who would wish, to tune into the funeral home's webpage.

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