COVID-19 took a Kansas police chief’s life. His wife says a mask could have saved him

Anita Farthing spent Saturday trying to figure out how to tell her late husband’s “buddy” — their 4-year-old grandson — that grandpa is no longer with them.

Jerry Farthing, the 63-year-old police chief of the Leon Police Department in rural Butler County, passed away Friday after more than a month of battling COVID-19, she said.

She said that Jerry Farthing and his coworkers at another job didn’t wear masks at the beginning of December. They all came down with COVID-19 symptoms.

She said he would be alive if he had worn a mask.

“I don’t know how many times he told me he regretted it,” she told The Eagle, crying. “We’ve watched all of our parents die. And this was 10 times worse than that. It’s COVID. You don’t know. Every person is different and you don’t know who it is going to be bad for.”

She said he tried to wear a mask for her, since she struggles with asthma. He loved his family— his four daughters, two stepsons and 15 grandchildren and step-grandchildren.

He was especially close with 4-year-old Gentry, his step-grandson. The boy’s family lives close, so Gentry often spent time with his grandparents.

Family outings included boating and jet-skiing on El Dorado Lake. Gentry and his grandpa would also throw rocks in a nearby creek or play on a homemade swing set he made using telephone polls.

“Grandpa could swing (the grandchildren) higher than anybody else,” Anita Farthing said.

Jerry Farthing also liked to bake cakes for family, including a teddy bear cake. She said he had a baking science degree from Kansas State University.

“He was such a good cook,” she said.

He also liked to learn new things.

A few years ago, while volunteering with the Cassoday Fire Department, he decided to challenge himself to go through the police academy, she said. He later became chief in the town of less than 1,000 people where the Farthings moved to take care of his mother after his father died.

In early December, he tested positive for COVID-19 two days after starting to show symptoms, she said. He was hospitalized about a week later but released a few days after that.

Anita Farthing also had mild symptoms after catching the virus.

The virus caused the Farthings to spend Christmas without their family. The next day, his oxygen dropped to 64%, she said. Normal is between 95-100%, according to the Mayo Clinic.

He was readmitted to Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital in El Dorado.

He resisted but was put on a ventilator a few days later. Anita Farthing said he didn’t want to go on a ventilator because he feared he would never come off. A couple of days after that, he was transferred to Ascension Via Christi St. Francis.

Anita Farthing, holding on to a hospital bedside promise that she would stay with him, went all but one day when she allowed another family member to go in her stead. COVID-19 protocols forced the healthcare system to limit visitors to one a day for each patient.

The hospital stint included their 22nd wedding anniversary.

She would hold his hand and pray. She said her voice, at times, caused his breathing to outpace the ventilator, so she tried to just be present. She knows others that recovered after being critically sick from COVID-19.

“I knew he had that chance,” she said.

On Friday, he took a turn for the worst.

She said family arrived at the hospital before he passed. She was also able to phone his daughters in Texas. Family told him they loved him.

“I believe he heard us because his respiration changes,” she said.

He died at 6:38 p.m.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help with funeral expenses.

This story was originally published January 16, 2021 at 4:33 PM with the headline "COVID-19 took a Kansas police chief’s life. His wife says a mask could have saved him."