After spending nearly five months in hospitals and rehab, Mathews County’s first COVID-19 victim, Peggy Gallagher, finally made it home to Moon last week.

Gallagher was released from Walter Reed Convalescent and Rehabilitation Center in Gloucester on Friday and, after receiving a loving send-off with lots of fanfare from all the staff there, went straight to Tony and Milena’s Pizzeria at Gloucester Point for lunch with her husband, Kevin, and their best friends, Donald and Lynn Jaeger, who have supported her throughout her ordeal. She hadn’t been in a restaurant since she first went to the emergency room with what she thought was the flu on March 10, so it was a special meal for her. She said the food was great and the restaurant staff were all very kind.

On the way home, three large signs in Mathews welcomed Gallagher back to the county, and she had just gotten settled into her house when there was a knock on the door heralding a welcome-home parade in her honor, organized by n...