Memories and lessons I learned…as a result of the “Spanish Flu” pandemic!

Thanks to my father’s brother by another mother…

Emergency hospital for soldiers from Kansas — a possible geographic origin of the “Spanish flu” (Public Domain).

“Madame, all stories, if continued far enough, end in death, and he is no true-story teller who would keep that from you.” — Ernest Hemingway (1932)

In 1915 my dad’s older brother by another mother, George, was born and my great grandfather (also named George, or “GW” — short for George Washington) purchased a Ford Model T for under $500 (he sold his livery stable the following year). By the time my dad was born five years later, my great grandparents were managing a household that included the young five year old George as well as my then-young (18 and 19 year old) newlywed grandparents who were married the previous year. But what happened to George’s parents? I never knew that part of the story, until now…

“Mrs. Fred Deaton” Obituary (5 Dec 1918) - The Charlotte Observer

The “1918” pandemic of influenza (“Spanish flu”) caused by the H1N1 virus infected a quarter of the world’s population and…