BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A young widow in Rockledge is hoping her family’s loss can be a teaching moment for others and an opportunity to help her community.

Charnese Davis said she wants to prevent others from knowing the pain she and her family are going through after her husband, Marquis, died from complications due to COVID-19.


What You Need To Know

  • Charnese and Marquis Davis were friends going back to middle school

  • Marquis died from COVID-19 after fighting against it in the hospital for six days

  • Both the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines will be offered on Friday and Saturday as part of Davis' wake and funeral

Now, thanks to help from both the Rev. Shaun Ferguson at Faith Temple Christian Center in Rockledge and the Florida Department of Health in Brevard County, Marquis Davis' wake and funeral will be an opportunity for people to get vaccinated and tested for COVID-19 for free.

“What better way to say, ‘Marquis, we love you, we appreciate you?” Ferguson said.

Charnese and Marquis knew each other going back to middle school. Charnese said they were flirty with each other, but didn’t start dating until after high school, when they went on a date on the Fourth of July in 2013, after Charnese had her son.

“We exchanged numbers and then we talked every day from the Fourth of July. Then July 27th, he was like, ‘Stop playing with me and let’s make this official,” she said.

Charnese said Marquis was a good family man who grew up in a family with seven sisters and two brothers. After his mom passed away when he was 17-years-old, Marquis stepped into the roll of father for his family.

Charnese said that’s part of what made him such a good role model for her son when they started dating. She said he had a good work ethic, including creating a lawn care company and a T-shirt printing business. 

“And he was about to get ready and start mobile detailing," she said. "So, he had a lot of visions and he worked hard."

She noted that when the pandemic hit, Marquis was careful to make sure he practiced social distancing while out at work. He was resistant, however, to the idea of getting a COVID-19 vaccine. 

“He was stuck in his ways and didn’t want to get it," Charnese said. "And that’s a lot of people my age."

Without the protection of a vaccine, Marquis wound up at Rockledge Regional Medical Center, where he fought against the coronavirus for six days. While there, he told Charnese that he would get the vaccine once he was able to leave and hoped his family would get it as well.

Unfortunately, he died before that happened.

“I just wish he would’ve got it,” Charnese said tearfully. “Cause people just don’t know how it affects everybody else.”

From 4-7:30 p.m. on Friday and noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday, the Faith Temple Christian Center will offer vaccinations and testing opportunities. 

“I’m hoping by the young people in our community coming out for Marquis’ homegoing that they’ll just decide, they’ll make a decision to just get the vaccine,” said Charnese’s aunt, Rosa Priester.

This is the third time the church is heading up a vaccination effort for the community. Both the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines will be available.