The deadly cost of COVID-19: Paul Simkonis was a retired Marine, woodworker

Editor’s note: The costs of COVID-19 are many -- lost wages, lost opportunities, lost relationships -- but thousands of Floridians have paid the ultimate price, their lives. The Times-Union will be profiling some of those from our area who were infected with the virus at the time of their deaths.

Paul M. Simkonis was a modest man devoted to his family, country and community.

The 70-year-old retired U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served during the Vietnam War also was a beloved husband, father and grandfather.

Mr. Simkonis was living a quiet life of contentment with his wife of nearly 48 years, Maria, in Middleburg. His days reflected his passions: family and wood working.

COVID-19 took his life March 18. Mr. Simkonis passed away at St. Vincent’s Medical Center-Clay — one week after being admitted to the hospital, reported the District IV Medical Examiner’s Office in Jacksonville.

At that time, Mr. Simkonis was on a ventilator after testing positive for COVID-19. He had a medical history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and coronary adrtery Disease, according to the medical examiner’s report.

Maria Simkonis said her husband initially went to the emergency room at the hospital on March 7 with shortness of breath and chest wall pain.

He was treated for those symptoms and released the same day.

Mr. Simkonis wasn’t tested for COVID-19 at that time, his widow and medical examiner’s report both say.

“When I took him to the emergency room the first time, they sent him home. They said he was fine, that he didn’t have coronavirus but was just having the regular flu,” Maria Simkonis said.

Maria Simkonis said they didn’t test him for the coronavirus during that emergency room visit.

“They should have checked him for coronavirus. I am very mad because how dare they diagnose him without testing for the virus,” she said.

Maria Simkonis is haunted by the possibility her husband might still be alive if he’d been tested for coronavirus during that initial emergency room visit.

“I cry almost every single day,” she said of the possibility he’d still be alive if things had been done differently.

At home, her husband’s condition worsened.

She took him back to the St. Vincent’s -Clay emergency room March 11 because he had chills and a fever. Doctors immediately admitted him to the hospital.

Three days later, March 14 Mr. Simkonis tested positive for COVID-19. At that time he was on a ventilator at the hospital, the medical examiner’s report showed.

Maria Simkonis also tested positive for the virus although she wasn’t hospitalized. It’s also unknown where she contracted the virus, according to the report.

“At the hospital, I hugged him and kissed him without knowing that he had the virus,” she said.

Mr. Simkonis passed away March 18 at the hospital.

“I never got to see him when he passed because we were not allowed to go in to the ICU,” she said. “They said ’I’m sorry but you cannot go in there because he has coronavirus.’ ”

Theirs was a real-life love story that could have been the plot of a romantic movie. The couple met at U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay in the Philippines, she said.

“I used to sing in the club. My soon-to-be husband came in and he swept me off my feet,” she said. It truly was love at first sight.

Her husband retired as a sergeant major after 24 years in the Marine Corps, including service in the Vietnam War, she said.

He most recently worked as a logistics manager at Naval Air Systems Command, his Linkedin profile showed.

He retired from there three years ago, but was hardly idle. He didn’t like sitting around doing nothing, Maria Simkonis said.

Mr. Simkonis loved woodworking and had a workshop at their home where he built furniture and other projects.

“He was doing a desk that he never did finish. It’s almost done but then he passed away,” she said.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Simkonis is survived by the couple’s four children and eight grandchildren.

“My husband was an outstanding Marine, very dedicated to any job that he did and a good person,” Maria Simkonis said.