Shelton’s ‘Don’ Ricardo Del Bosque dies after 6-month battle with COVID-19

After a hard-fought six-month battle with COVID-19 and its effects, “Don” Ricardo Del Bosque of Shelton died Monday at the age of 59.

Don Ricardo was the tireless head of the Shelton School District Student & Family Resource Center and a fixture of his community. In mid-November, The Olympian wrote of Don Ricardo’s out-sized impact in Shelton and the hole he left when he contracted COVID-19.

In that story, Shelton Superintendent Alex Apostle called Del Bosque a “human dynamo,” who seemed to create entire programs on the spot. Another coworker, McKinney-Vento liaison Betty Uriostegui, called Del Bosque “the Sun” of their team. He was the driving force behind the district’s “Resources on Wheels” bus, purchased to deliver food and other supplies directly to students.

An immigrant from Saltillo, Mexico, he was a champion especially for people new to Shelton from Latin America. Over the years, he collected honors for his work and helped hundreds apply for the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) cost-free, helping them avoid attorney’s fees, according to his family.

“He is a big loss,” Apostle said. “He was the heart and soul, really, of our school system. He was that powerful of a person and did tremendous work with a variety of people throughout the community.”

Among his other roles in Shelton, according to family members: He led a Spanish congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for roughly five years, and served as a liaison between the Guatemalan government and Shelton when an immigrant was fatally shot by a hunter a decade ago.

During the pandemic, he had encouraged people to wear masks, wash their hands often, and not gather in crowds, his son said last year. He still delivered supplies and food to people, and people were still coming to his house asking questions and seeking resources.

“He didn’t have a schedule. He worked whenever he was needed — he was there,” his son, also named Ricardo Del Bosque, said in an interview Monday. “It was not a job, it was a calling. A calling to service.”

He was diagnosed with COVID-19 in early August and had stayed in a series of hospitals since, suffering a stroke and bouts of pneumonia. He had type 2 diabetes, his son said, which increases the risk of severe illness for people who contract the virus.

At times over the past half-year, improvements in Don Ricardo’s health offered his family and community hope.

Less than a month ago, he graduated from the intensive care unit to a rehabilitation center. But the progress was short-lived — he had to go back to the ICU that same day, his son said.

Visits had been prohibited in recent months due to restrictions as the pandemic worsened in Washington, Del Bosque said. They had video visits, but his father had been unable to talk since the stroke earlier in his illness. He called what his father suffered a “very lonely disease,” and said that mourning his death is also a lonely experience.

“I’m hoping, in my heart, that he truly knew that, that we would not leave him alone in these horrible times,” he said.

Family members were able to visit in his final days, Del Bosque said, and he believes his father’s death with family members by his side was, in the end, peaceful.

A Facebook page where well-wishers have tracked Don Ricardo’s journey and offered encouragement had amassed over 540 members as of this week. It was immediately flooded with messages of grief and remembrance upon his passing. An online fundraiser, which for now remains open, had raised over $21,000.

Throughout his battle with COVID-19, Don Ricardo continued giving of himself. Before the stroke, he had told his son he wanted to donate plasma once he was released. After his death, the hospital called Del Bosque’s family to say his driver’s license indicated that he was an organ donor.

“We said ‘Absolutely, it goes without saying that is something that my dad would love to do,’” Del Bosque said.

And so, his legacy will live on through organ donation and through the people he has influenced by his example.

Del Bosque said his father instilled in others a “vocation of service,” and that he sees teachers, para-educators, and others already saying they need to honor his memory by carrying on his work. He and his brother are also talking about starting a scholarship fund in their dad’s name.

On Monday, his son also offered a message to others to take the pandemic seriously.

Wearing a mask is “serving others,” he said, and that may mean a grandfather can go home to his grandkids, or a mother can attend her daughter’s wedding. He especially wants that message to reach young people, who he said may not consider it as much of a risk to catch the disease but who may pass it on to others who are more vulnerable.

“We don’t see how this virus extrapolates ... it extrapolates to people that you don’t even see,” Del Bosque said.

Shelton School District’s flags flew at half-staff on Monday, in Don Ricardo Del Bosque’s honor.

“Ricardo will live on in Shelton,” Superintendent Dr. Apostle said. “We’re going to make sure of that.”

This story was originally published February 9, 2021 at 5:45 AM.