They lived with love and died from COVID-19 in the Midlands. These are their stories.

Sandra Priester cared for disabled clients for more than 20 years in Columbia and treated them like her own children.

Willie Mae Wright was a devoted grandmother and a source of joy for her entire Columbia family.

Randy Spires had hundreds of friends in West Columbia. Some say he had thousands.

Together, they are three of 126,000 Americans who have died from COVID-19. More than 700 have died in South Carolina.

The death toll continues to rise, and coronavirus cases are spiking again in South Carolina and in other states. As the country gradually reopens, there’s a temptation to become desensitized to the numbers, to become numb to them. But every number represents a human being, a family in mourning and a story deserving to be told.

During the next few days, The State Media Company will tell stories from the Midlands. Priester, Wright and Spires are connected not only in how they died but in how they lived — with love. Love for friends and family, love for community, love for strangers.

It is with that same love that they are remembered by those closest to them.

This story was originally published June 30, 2020 at 5:00 AM.