’Elvia loved to help anyone’: North Dakota’s youngest COVID victim remembered

MINOT, N.D. – The mother of North Dakota’s youngest COVID-19 victim is speaking out.

Susan Three Irons is looking back on the life of her 17-year-old daughter Elvia “Rose” Ramirez, all while recovering from the virus herself.

She’s also making an impassioned plea to the public to wear a mask.

Susan Three Irons, the mom of 17-year-old Elvia “Rose” Ramirez, said her daughter started getting headaches mid-last month, and tested positive for COVID-19. She was hospitalized in Minot for shortness of breath, before Susan had her transferred to the children’s hospital in Fargo.

“I talked to her before they intubated her, telling her I loved her, that she would be ok. She told me she was scared and everything. I told her I’m going to go there and be with her,” said Three Irons.

And Susan was hospitalized not long after.

“They put the phone by her ear so I could say my goodbyes to hear, since I couldn’t physically be with her,” said Three Irons.

“Elvia loved to help anyone she could, and be there and listen. She was always willing to be an ear for them to talk to, or for me. She was always a big help around the house with her siblings,” she said.

Three Irons said Elvia was a member of the MHA Nation as well as a tribe in Arizona, and embraced all parts of her heritage. Now, she’s making an impassioned plea to North Dakotans to mask up.

“And, trying to encourage people to make sure they wear masks and everything, cause if people wore masks around, I think she’d still be with us,” said Three Irons.

Remembering a life gone too soon, and working to make sure she didn’t die in vain.

Three Irons says Elvia’s funeral will begin Arizona next Friday.

She says the school in Parshall put together a small memorial for her, and honored her with a moment of silence before a recent volleyball match.

Images courtesy: Susan Three Irons