|January 21, 2021 at 7:03 PM EST - Updated January 22 at 8:45 AM
LEXINGTON, S.C. (WIS) - COVID-19 has claimed the lives of 5,768 South Carolinians since the pandemic began, with DHEC reporting over 650 people dying since January 1 alone.
One of those heartbreaking losses is Ashley Bennett, who was a Lexington woman who died at only 36 years old, just days after giving birth to her 10th child.
“Her world circulated around her children,” Courtney Bucknam, Ashley’s sister, said. “She absolutely loved them.”
Bucknam said that Ashley was about 34 weeks pregnant when she tested positive for COVID-19 in late December. After an emergency delivery on January 1, her 10 children lost their mother to COVID-19 just seven days later.
Timothy Beaudoin, Newberry City Fire Department, and 21 other recruits recently graduated from the S.C. Fire Academy.
Courtesy photo
NEWBERRY Timothy Beaudoin, Newberry City Fire Department, graduated from the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation’s South Carolina Fire Academy (eight-week firefighter candidate school in Columbia) on Dec. 4.
Beaudoin, along with 21 other recruits, underwent a 320-hour training program of classroom and hands-on firefighting skills development. Keynote speaker was Chief William Broscious, Columbia Fire Department.
“This challenging program requires commitment, passion, and dedication,” Fire Academy Superintendent Dennis Ray said. “These recruits have successfully worked together as a team, performed extensive hands-on training with live fires, and passed intensive practical skills evaluations and written tests to meet the National Fire Protection Association standards.”