'Science comes from God:' Durham school board member shares grief, lesson of father's COVID death

For those in the local spotlight, a COVID death in the family can be even more gut-wrenching; the grieving is public.

Natalie Beyer, a member of the Durham Board of Education, turned her public grief into a lesson as her colleagues considered lifting mask mandates last week.

"I spent the last week listening to my father die of COVID," she told them. "COVID is real. COVID is here, and we need to do everything we can to protect our children, and each other and our community."

Beyer said her father, former Duke heart surgeon Dr. Robert Jones, died on January 26 after contracting COVID in the memory care facility where he was living.

"People need to talk to their doctors. People need to talk to their faith leaders. People need to get information, not disinformation from the internet," she said.

Faith was a huge element in Jones' life, his daughter said, yet he believed in the science of vaccines and was fully vaccinated and boosted.

"I think too often we think that faith and science can't coexist, but actually science comes from God just like faith comes from God," Beyer said.

Jones was on the team that performed the first heart transplant. He had an illustrious and groundbreaking career as a cardio-thoracic surgeon at Duke, but to Beyer, he was just “Dad.”

She will remember more than just his professional accomplishments.

"Remember that he was optimistic. Remember that he loved everyone, that he'd loved caring, that he believed in people and their goodness," she said.

Asked why she chose to share her personal loss in the public forum of the school board meeting, Beyer said, "My father and I share a love in common of public health and prevention strategies. I felt like, 'What would he say in that moment? What would he want to communicate?'"

The impact of that message was immediately evident.

Board Chairwoman Bettina Umstead thanked her, then added, "Go get vaccinated if you’re listening and you haven’t yet. Now is the time."

Beyer told WRAL News that she is proud to serve on a school board which has handled the pandemic restrictions with care and compassion for staff and students. She hopes at some point Durham County will lead the state in its vaccination rate.