Former Saugus High custodian who lost battle with COVID-19 remembered as beloved father, campus fixture

Laura Savage Yoder remembers her father as a man who was her best friend.

"I was so blessed, me and my sister, we're so blessed to have the best father," she says.

Laura is talking about her father, David Savage. COVID-19 claimed his life last month at the age of 76. He's one of the thousands of people in Los Angeles County the virus has taken.

By all accounts, he lived a good life, but felt he still had many years left to live. Laura says he was a loving father, grandfather and husband. In every family photo the family shared, David always had that smile.

"You know, my dad went out of his way to love people," Laura says. "My father would do anything for anybody. You know, he would take the shirt off his back for anybody. Because that's how kind of a person he was."

Before he retired, David Savage was the head custodian at Saugus High School for 20 years. When news of his passing hit the school, teachers and staff who knew him reached out to the family. Letting them know he was a loving figure at the school.

Laura says her mother, brother-in-law and her father contracted the virus. David, she says, ended up spending three weeks in the hospital. David made the decision he wanted to come home.

"He didn't want to pass away at the hospital," Laura said. "He wanted to be at home with his wife, with my mother."

Laura was able to talk to her father over the phone and let him know how much she loved him.

The family is one of the many grieving the loss of a loved one.