COVID-19 Wall of Memories memorializes and amplifies the lives of COVID-19 victims while serving as a source of information about the disease, the epidemic, and its impact on the United States.

COVID-19 Wall of Memories is the brainchild of retired project manager Mohammed Nasrullah. Observing the steady rise in the numbers of sick and dead from the disease, he began thinking of a way to memorialize them, to keep them from being merely statistics. When the United States reached 100,000 deaths, he felt called to action. He wanted to create something to remember and honor their lives. Mohammed imagined a digital version of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. He shared his vision with his wife, Ruth, a freelance journalist, and his brother, Fazal Shamsi, who brought his knowledge of software design to the group. The full team then got to work giving life to Mohammed’s vision. In September 2021 they were joined by community leader Sam Alix, who brought his expertise in nonprofit management and community mobilization.

COVID-19 Wall of Memories is managed by a board of directors consisting of Mohammed Nasrullah, Ruth Nasrullah, Fazal Shamsi and Sam Alix.

Mohammed Nasrullah is a long-time resident of Houston, Texas. He is a former Project Manager who worked on NASA projects for almost 40 years. Mohammed is the former Board Chairman and President of CAIR-Houston. He serves as president of the Amnesty International-Bay Area (Houston) local group. Mohammed serves on the Executive Board of the MultiCultural Center in Webster, Texas. He is a long time activist and community organizer. Mohammed is married and has three children.

Ruth Nasrullah is a freelance journalist based in Houston. She is president of the Houston chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists and a member of the Society for Environmental Journalists and the Association of Health Care Journalists. She is also a certified Texas Master Naturalist and a Certified Interpretive Guide. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Emerson College and a Master of Fine Arts in creative nonfiction from Goucher College. Ruth is married with adult children.

Fazal Shamsi was born and raised in India. He moved to the United States after completing high school. He is an IT Consultant specializing in supply chain modeling emphasizing logistics, inventory management, and location analysis. Over the years, he has volunteered in many community-building projects. He considers COVID-19 Wall of Memories to be his most significant collaboration.

Sam Alix is a native Houstonian. He spent 22 years serving in the U.S. military and deployed to Iraq in 2007 with the Air Force, separating in 2012. Sam obtained his master's degree in sociology from the University of Houston-Clear Lake and holds numerous certifications to provide behavioral health support. Sam and his wife, Kayla, launched the nonprofit organization CHAMP in 2016, providing peer support and behavioral health support for veterans and their families as well as at-risk communities. He is a proud father and grandfather. Sam practices the philosophy of Agape Love, Nonviolence and Peace in the U.S. and around the world, based on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s teaching.

Magdalena Padilla (Elena) was born and raised in El Paso, Texas. She became a resident of Pasadena, Texas in 1990, where she still resides. She is the most recent member of our Board. She works as a legal criminal secretary in downtown Houston, Texas. Her mother passed away from Covid-19, on January 23, 2021. She is married and has three adult children (Jazmin, Javier and Yadira), one grandbaby (Oliver) and one on the way (Alejandra).

We also have a fantastic volunteer corps who help us with research and data entry. We have talented writers who produce content for our Observer news page.

Fox 26 coverage from January 5, 2025: https://www.fox26houston.com/news/houston-based-online-memorial-covid-19-wall-of-memories-honored-on-launch-date-anniverary

Mistrust, fights and blood sport: How COVID-19 trauma is shaping the 2024 election. On May 9, 2024, LA Times writer Jeffrey Fleishman featured COVID-19 Wall of Memories in an article about the lasting impact of COVID on society and politics.

The Next Presidential Election will be a Battle Over Pandemic Memory. On March 23, 2023, Time magazine included COVID-19 Wall of Memories in their coverage of the country's collective memory of the pandemic.

Mother copes with losing her son to COVID-19. On March 19, 2023, Isiah Carey, host of the Isiah Factor on Fox 26, interviewed Mohammed Nasrullah, co-founder of COVID-19 Wall of Memories; and Lisa Whitton, a local resident whose son is memorialized on the COVID-19 Wall of Memories site after passing away from COVID in 2021.

Locals sponsor, organize COVID-19 memorial in downtown Houston. On March 3, 2023, Community Impact News covered the Rose River Memorial held Feb. 24-26 in Tranquillity Park, Houston.

COVID-19 victims to be honored with art exhibit in Tranquility Park. On February 19, 2023, Fox 26 Houston covered the Rose River Memorial held displayed Feb. 24-26 in Tranquillity Park, Houston.

Resources for those impacted by COVID-19. On June 18, 2022, University of New Mexico radio station KUNM included the Wall of Memories in an online article about available resources for those impacted by COVID.

Couple’s online wall honoring COVID victims continues to grow, evolve. On April 4, 2022, the Houston Chronicle covered the website's progress to date.

Loved ones lost to COVID honored with digital memory wall. On January 5, 2022, local Houston station KHOU reported on our anniversary, the proclamations we received and the Library of Congress archive.

And a year after it was launched, a Houston-based website memorializing those lost to COVID-19, surpasses 10,000 people memorialized. On January 5, 2022, Craig Cohen's Houston Public Media program "Houston Matters" looked back at an earlier interview with the Wall of Memories co-founders.

Houston-based online memorial COVID-19 Wall of memories honored on launch date anniversary. On January 5, 2022, Fox 26 Houston's Ahmed Sharma covered our first anniversary, our work and recognition received. This also ran on Fox 7 Austin on the same day. A version appeared on Yahoo News as well that day.

Houston couple creates online COVID-19 Memorial. Fox 26 Houston's Isiah Carey featured co-founders Ruth and Mohammed Nasrullah on his show The Isiah Factor on January 3, 2022.

Impacts Roundup. On October 5, 2021, local newspaper Community Impact mentioned COVID-19 Wall of Memories' supply drive to aid ICU nurses at an area hospital.

Houston-based virtual memorial honors victims of COVID-19 by spotlighting lost loved ones. Fox 26 Houston's online and video coverage of COVID-19 Wall of Memories, dated August 12, 2021.

COVID-19 vaccine distribution site to be held Saturday in Houston’s Fifth Ward. Fox 26 Houston's digital reporter on July 22, 2021 announced our upcoming vaccination drive held in conjunction with several other organizations.

In their memory: Pandemic offers opportunities to transform digital obits. A staffer from the ONA Student Newsroom produced this June 21, 2021 package about obituaries and COVID-19 Wall of Memories and its founders.

Exploration Green bench to be dedicated to COVID-19 victims. On June 10, a memorial bench was officially dedicated to victims of COVID-19, followed by a walk-a-thon to raise money for COVID-19 Wall of Memories.

Covid-19 Wall of Memories. KPFT podcast episode dated May 12, 2021 featured an interview with founders Mohammed and Ruth Nasrullah. The segment is also available on Audible.

Clear Lake residents launch website to honor victims of COVID-19. On March 23, 2021, local newspaper Community Impact covered the organization and its founders.

COVID-19 Wall of Memories. Live segment aired on KHOU Great Day Houston on March 22, 2021.

On March 12, 2021, Mohammed and Ruth Nasrullah appeared on Houston Matters, a radio show on Houston Public Media/KUHF-FM radio. (Scroll to about 12:08 for the start of their segment).

On March 11, 2021, an interview with Mohammed and Ruth Nasrullah discussing the website appeared on MSNBC program All In's website and on their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

On January 20, 2021, Mohammed and Ruth Nasrullah appeared on Houston City Council Member Letitia Plummer's live program "COVID Conversations."

Clear Lake couple creates memorial wall for those who died from COVID-19. Aired on KPRC TV, channel 2, on January 14, 2021.

Clear Lake couple's website honors those lost to COVID. The Houston Chronicle's Carissa Lamkahouan wrote about the Nasrullahs and their new endeavor, COVID-19 Wall of Memories. Article appeared on January 7, 2021.

On January 6, 2021, board members Mohammed and Ruth Nasrullah appeared on "And Justice for All," a live daily talk show on Muslim Network TV.

Respect for families

We are guided by the principle of respect to victims, their families, their caretakers and their communities. We respect family’s wishes absolutely, and without objection or condition we will remove or modify a story at the family’s request.  Such requests can be made by emailing us at rnasrullah@covid19wallofmemories.org.

Respect for the truth

We avoid publishing claims of or deliberately supporting or appearing to support accusations of mistreatment, misdiagnosis, neglect, etc. Nor do we deliberately share misinformation or disinformation. We do not publish content that is hateful, bigoted, or makes false claims about people or places. We edit out prohibited content at our discretion.

Source of support

We do not sell anything on this website.  COVID-19 Wall of Memories is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization and we are supported solely through donations and grants.

Origin of stories

The stories of the people honored on the wall of memories come from three sources:

Personal submissions

1.     Submissions from family members or close friends about their loved one who has passed away.  As part of the submission process, they must affirm that the information they provide is true and accurate.  We vet the information to the extent possible and if we are satisfied it meets our standards as above, we honor the loved one on the virtual memorial.  Some reasons for which we will not post a story include:

a.     The story content is contradicted by reputable news reports or disputed by a different family member or friend.

b.   The submitter is unable to provide basic information about the victim.

c.     We diligently avoid posting medical conditions that haven’t already been mentioned in an obituary or news article and try to avoid graphic descriptions of symptoms or disease progression.

Online obituaries

2.     We excerpt online obituaries.  There are some important points to know regarding this:

a.     We respect family’s wishes absolutely, and without objection or condition we will remove or modify a story at the family’s request.  Such requests can be made by emailing us at rnasrullah@covid19wallofmemories.org.

b.     We do not copy and paste entire obituaries; we reproduce a few lines and immediately provide a link to the source.

c.     We do not use obituary content to earn a profit. For example, we don't sell flowers or other memorial items.

News reports

3.     We excerpt news reports.

a.     We do not copy and paste entire articles.

b.     We reproduce a few lines of an article and provide a link to the source.

c.     We only use photos that we have purchased or been given the right to use, or that are available under Fair Use, or those available under a Creative Commons license (with the proper attribution).

COVID-19 Wall of Memories is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Donations to the organization are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Our tax ID number is 85-1414385.