'A life taken too soon,' Quinn Priester loses grandfather to COVID-19

In the midst of the celebratory chaos – hugs and high fives, the trophy ceremony, countless photos – Cary-Grove’s Quinn Priester remembers spotting his grandparents in the stands after winning the 2018 IHSA Class 6A state championship football game.

As is tradition, the Trojans made a high-five line with the first row of their fans. Priester’s grandparents, Paul and Judy Foley, were in that crowd. No matter if it was baseball or football, Paul Foley Jr. was there when Priester competed.

Hours later, they celebrated with pizza, and Priester shared a bear hug with his grandfather.

“That’s just one of the happy moments that we shared together,” Priester said. “He was always there for the important moments in my life and he taught me a lot just about caring for loved ones.”

Foley will never have the chance to see his grandson, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 18th overall draft pick last June, pitch in the professional ranks. The otherwise healthy 77-year-old Paul Foley died April 17 after a battle with COVID-19.

His family has no idea how he caught the coronavirus and figures it will never know. Cough, fever and trouble breathing led him to the hospital on March 28. A resident of Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood, he spent the next three weeks at Northwestern Memorial Hospital before he died.

“Nothing really kept him down,” the 19-year-old Priester said. “He was always a healthy guy. For this to happen, it was just very unexpected. It goes to show that this could really affect anybody. It’s really serious and everyone should take it seriously and do their part.”

Priester’s mother, Chris Priester, described her father as “the original girl dad” – in reference to the #GirlDad hashtag that went viral after former NBA star Kobe Bryant died in January.

Judy and Paul Foley had three daughters and a son. Chris Priester said her dad was always encouraging all of them to play sports.

“He just loved life,” Chris Priester said. “He was a young 77. He wasn’t sick a day in his life. That’s why this really took us by surprise, too. He was an all-around supportive dad and grandpa.”

Chris Priester grew up in Nebraska and her parents lived there until they retired and moved to Chicago to be closer to their grandchildren. Paul Foley worked at Sydney R. Marovitz Golf Course on the lakefront near Lincoln Park.

His family has received well wishes and condolences from countless golf friends and acquaintances from the course.

In his last weeks at Northwestern Memorial, the doctors and nurses frequently held the phone while his family spoke to him over FaceTime.

“They were fantastic,” Chris Priester said of the health care workers. “We would FaceTime with him and talk to him and be able to visit from afar, but that was far better than nothing.”

His team of nurses even celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary with Judy, presenting a cake and sending photos to family, a day before he died.

Chris Priester’s brother, Paul Foley III, is a physician in Pennsylvania and, after a drive from Philadelphia, the staff at Northwestern allowed him to sit with his father on the day he died.

“That, to us, was very comforting,” Chris Priester said.

The Priesters took the coronavirus seriously well before it struck their family. Quinn arrived home from spring training in late March and kept himself busy with in-home workouts and catch with his dad, Andy Priester. Chris Priester works in branding and marketing for Advocate Aurora Health, and was well aware of the serious threat the virus presents.

They wanted to tell the story of their father and grandfather because they know that if it happened to their family, it could happen to any family.

“We don’t want my grandpa to be a statistic,” Quinn Priester said. “We want him to help influence [others]. We wish it didn’t happen, but it did and there’s no getting past that. We just want other people to realize how serious this is.”

Quinn Priester went to countless Cubs games at Wrigley Field with his grandpa. It was their tradition: They'd take the red line from the Foleys' Edgewater home. When Quinn was little, they used to try to balance peanut shells on each others’ hats without the other noticing.

They always bet on Bears vs. Packers football games, too. Grandson was a Bears fan, grandpa loved the Packers.

“If the Packers won, he’d always do double or nothing next time,” Quinn Priester said. “He’d keep saying that until the Bears won.”

The last time he saw his grandfather, they went to one of their favorite spots, Sun Wah BBQ near Edgewater in Chicago. They were both obsessed with the Peking duck.

The day was a send off, of sorts, with Quinn preparing to leave for spring training soon. His grandfather would see him again – as was the plan – in early April when the season started in Greensboro, North Carolina, with the Class A Greensboro Grasshoppers.

Then COVID-19 turned the world upside down.

“It was the first spring training or all of us,” Quinn Priester said. “We didn’t know what was going to happen, but we were excited for all those new experiences.”

Paul J. Foley Jr. is survived by his wife Judy, his four children and nine grandchildren.

“It’s just a life taken too soon,” Chris Priester said.