Southlake Public Works employee dies of coronavirus, city officials say
A Southlake Public Works employee described as a dedicated civil servant and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran has died from COVID-19, city officials announced.
Darlene Rubio lost a 16-day battle with the illness on Thursday, according to a GoFundMe page raising funds for her children. She was a mother of three, the organizer wrote on the page, as well as a daughter, sister, aunt and friend.
She loved her family and cherished taking her kids to Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers games, the organizer wrote.
Rubio worked for the City of Southlake for four years and was most recently an administrative secretary for the public works department, according to a news release on Southlake’s community website MySouthLakeNews.com. The Southlake government Facebook page shared the release in announcing her passing.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Darlene’s family today,” the Southlake Department of Public Safety wrote in a Facebook post.
City Manager Shana Yelverton said in the release that “Darlene’s death is a mighty blow to our organization” and “she knew what it meant to be a public servant.”
Public Works Director Rob Cohen called her “a cornerstone to our operations,” according to the release.
“Her ability to work through the sometimes complicated nature of our business made her an essential member of our team,” he told MySouthLakeNews.
Rubio was named a City of Southlake Value Award winner for accountability in 2017, according to MySouthLakeNews.
Before she started working for the city in 2015, she was an employee with Affiliated Bank as well as One Main Financial/CitiFinancial, the release states. And before that, she was in the Marines for four years, assisting senior-level officers.
Funds raised by the GoFundMe campaign will go toward keeping Rubio’s kids together and making sure their needs are met, according to the page. The drive had raised more than $7,000 as of 12:15 p.m. Saturday.
Meanwhile, Tarrant County reported three more coronavirus deaths Saturday, bringing the total to 38. There have been 1,229 cases of coronavirus in Tarrant County, according to the county public health department.
