‘Chicago Fire’ Honors Late Actress DuShon Monique Brown in Season 7 Premiere

Chicago Fire honored late cast member DuShon Monique Brown with a sweet send-off for her character, Connie, during the season 7 premiere.

During the team’s first meeting of the season, Chief Boden (Eamonn Walker) gives an update as to why Connie’s desk has been emptied out at the station.

He starts by saying that over the past four years, she had been working toward her master’s degree in counseling and she had left the station because she was hired at her “dream job” as the head of counseling for Whitney Young Magnet School in Chicago.

“They asked her to start immediately and I couldn’t stand in her way,” Boden told the rest of the team.

“That’s fantastic,” Stella Kidd (Miranda Rae Mayo) said.

“I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye,” Christopher Herrman (David Eigenberg) added, visibly upset. “None of us did.”

“I hear ya,” Boden added. “But it’s O.K. cause she knows how much we love her here.”

The squad then stays silent for a few seconds before they are interrupted by the late arrival to a meeting by new firefighter Emily Foster (Annie Ilonzeh).

As previously reported, Brown — who played Boden’s assistant during the the first six seasons of the NBC firefighter drama — passed away in March after being rushed for a “cardiac episode” to St. James Olympia Field Hospital. Her cause of death was later revealed to be due to a blood infection.

The show had already paid tribute to the actress by adding an “in memoriam” title card at the end of the April 5 episode of the series, titled “Put White on Me,” and her last appearance aired during “The Strongest Among Us,” which aired April 26.

With this scene, however, the show finally addressed her character’s exit, in a sort-of poetic manner.

Aside from her role on Chicago Fire, Brown was also a full time counselor in Chicago’s Public School system. Her death was first announced by an email sent to the parents by the principal of Chicago’s Kenwood Academy High School, where she once worked as a crisis counselor and as the lead of the Drama Star Program.

“Our beautiful Dushon Monique Brown passed away on Friday. You will be sorely missed by your family and ourselves. Thanks for all the great laughs we had. Love,” Fire star Jesse Spencer wrote on Twitter when news of Brown’s passing first broke in March.

Brown was also known for appearances on Prison Break, Empire and Shameless.

Chicago Fire airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.