MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — Darius Settles was the son of a preacher man. His family says he was always smiling. At just 30 years old, with no prior medical conditions, his family says he died on Independence Day from COVID-19.
The virus moved fast; he was diagnosed just four days earlier.
David Settles, Darius' father, who is a local pastor and Murfreesboro City School Board member, sat in his front yard Tuesday as he looked at old photos of his son.
"He wouldn't stop laughing," Settles said. "The expression on his face, that was every day: this kid woke up with a smile on his face."
He flipped to another photo of Darius' graduation from Middle Tennessee State University, with Darius wearing that same trademark smile.
"This is what was snatched from us, this is what was taken from us," Settles, a pastor at The Worship Center Murfreesboro said. "And I don’t say, 'Oh God knew, [this was] God's will.' No this was not God's will. This wasn’t God's will for my son to die at 30. It wasn’t his will for him to die and leave a beautiful wife by herself and a son without a father, that wasn’t God's will."
"The whole idea that God is somehow pulling levers, and in control of who lives and who dies, in some type of cosmic game-play, that’s hogwash," Settles said. "He gives us the tools we need to live this life. It's up to us to be good stewards of the information we receive and the equipment we have to protect ourselves."
That equipment, Settles says, is a face mask. Settles said Darius did not go to parties, bars or other crowded places considered by doctors to be dangerous during the pandemic. Nevertheless, he contracted the virus.
"Somebody gave it to him," Settles said. "And I bet you, if they had known that they'd give it to this young man and he’d die, they would have done differently. I can't imagine anybody wanting someone to die from this."
Settles says he sees the endless stream of comments during every official press conference. He says he's dismayed by how political wearing a mask has become.
Settles pointed to his own face mask on Tuesday.
"If this is what life means, choose life," he said.
For information on a gofundme the family set up to pay for memorial expenses, tap here.
