This is part of a Yahoo News series honoring some of the American lives lost to COVID-19. Their stories are told by family and friends, who were left to deal with their often sudden and painful deaths.

Terrence James, 49, of Galveston, Texas, died on Feb. 19, 2021, after becoming ill with COVID-19. He is among the more than 565,000 Americans who have succumbed to the disease since the first known fatality in the United States in early 2020.

His wife, Ebony James, told Yahoo News that her husband was a man of faith who loved God and his family fearlessly and that he was also passionate about helping people.

“If someone