Ursula Heard
Photograph of Ursula Heard, obtained from her son Alonzo Heard on Facebook.
Ursula Heard is remembered as a loving mother to her daughter and three sons and a doting grandmother. She tragically passed away on April 21, 2020 after battling COVID-19 in Michigan’s Huron Valley Women’s Facility. She was 54 years old. The response to Ursula’s passing is a sure testament to the positive impact that her life left on others, as hundreds of friends and family members flocked to social media to share their prayers, their condolences, and their affection for Ursula. Simply summarized in one of the many loving messages, “she was amazing.”
Despite her own predicament, Ursula fought for the rights of all of the women at the Huron Valley Women’s Facility, a complex well-known for its poor environment and treatment of its residents. In 2014, along with three others, she filed a lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Corrections, in which she bravely detailed inadequate provision of medical supplies and a personal experience of poor medical treatment in the complex; unfortunately, the women’s claims were dismissed. A federal lawsuit in 2019, filed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic’s onset, testified that the facility was “operating under a state of degradation, filth, and inhumanity” and that its conditions could have devastating consequences for the respiratory systems of those incarcerated there. Ursula’s decision to take a stand against these degrading circumstances is a true testament to her compassion and strength.
On April 21, 2020, Mary Marshall Ellison posted to the Facebook group for the facility that she “just spoke to Ursula daughter she said her mother was in a coma for 2 weeks before they found out they are so upset and they’re trying to decide what to do… And they just found out yesterday that she was on a ventilator.”
By the time that Ursula’s children had been informed of their mother’s condition, they were unable to even speak to her and were left to make the decision to take her off of life support. Ursula never should have been subjected to such atrocious conditions, and her loved ones at the very least deserved the opportunity to say their goodbyes.
Photograph of Ursula with her son and granddaughter, courtesy of Mignon Toya, by way of Mary Marshall Ellison on Facebook.
Ursula leaves behind a legacy of perseverance and courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable circumstances. We stand with her loving family and friends in mourning her passing and in demanding justice for this compassionate soul.
This memorial was written by MOL team member Olivia Walker with information from reporting by Scott McClallen of The Center Square, from Civil Court Case Moon v. Warren, and a Facebook post by Mary Marshall Ellison.