Corona Virus, Pandemics and Remembering My Grandmother

Edward and Bertha Roth's wedding photo 1918

I have been reading about the Corona Virus for over two months now.  From the first outbreak in China up until counting the daily death toll here at home there has been little of anything else to think about.   It is on the TV news non stop.  And Facebook is no escape from it either.  There is the doom and gloom daily updates and the humorous daily memes to capture our attention online.   We are not supposed to gather in large groups right now.  Weddings are being cancelled and conducted with no guests.   There are questions about how to hold memorial services for our deceased when we are not supposed to gather in groups of more than ten.   Our schools are closed.  Many are without jobs.  We will never forget these days.   Much like watching the daily body counts from the Viet Nam war on TV we now are counting bodies by country and ranking which ones have the most deaths.  It's truly frightening and exhausting.

I was joking with some friends on Facebook today and we were comparing our efforts scrubbing our floors and house holds today.   As I scrubbed my own kitchen and dining area today with Pine Sol I took a deep breath and smelled the fresh scent of the Pine Sol.  I was immediately back in my Grandmothers tiny three room apartment.  She scrubbed and cleaned her apartment on a daily basis.  The minute I would walk into her home I was surrounded with the scent of Pine Sol.   I could not help but feel her presence with me today while I cleaned.

As I reminisced about her today it dawned on me that she was alive for the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic to which  out current situation is so often compared.   And yet I never remember her ever talking about surviving a pandemic.  Her name was Bertha Wilson but was known as Bertie to most of her friends.   She was born in 1897.   I stopped to think about what she might have been doing in 1918.   She was not bombarded with non stop daily updates about the pandemic.  Radio's were not common in most homes until the late 1920's.  There was no TV with twenty four news and daily Presidential updates.   There was no internet to surround her with doom and gloom.  So I have to wonder if she even  realized there was a terrible flu spreading across the world.

I did some quick research on the Spanish Flu today.  It started spreading across the globe in 1918.   One article stated that many believed the virus came to the United States through the military.  In 1918 my grandmother met and married her husband Edward Roth.

Edward Roth 1916

The second waveof  the Spanish flu arrived in the United State late summer 1918.  It is believed it was carried by the returning dough boys from World War I.  My grandfather was one of those dough boys returning home and was stationed at the newly opened Aberdeen Proving Ground.  The virus spread from Boston and to New York and Philadelphia before spreading west to St. Louis and San Francisco.

Dough Boys Returning Home - My grandfather Edward Roth upper left

Edward Roth 1918

Here in Maryland the first notice of the flu came in late September 1918 in a handful of soldiers at Camp Meade.  Each soldier was quarantined.  But visitors and other solders were allowed to come and go at will.  Then within a few days there were almost 2,000 cases reported at the camp.   In Baltimore theaters and railway and street car operators were asked to keep their spaces well ventilated.  They were asked to post signs suggesting travelers sneeze and cough into kerchiefs.

My grandmother Bertha Wilson and her mother Katherine Wilson

I do know my grandmother had a very active and busy year in 1918 during the epidemic. She met and married my grandfather. They moved from Maryland to Indiana, his home, after they were married that year. While in Indiana my grandmother had one child who was still born. She was very depressed and missed her home and family very much. So they moved back to Maryland in early 1919 while the flu was still active in the country. But she survived. I never knew my grandfather. He died when my mother was still a teenager during the Great Depression. My grandmother lived until 1976. She raised four children during the Depression. She survived the death of her husband. Every year she would watch our local 4th of July parade. When the military from Aberdeen Proving Ground would march past she would put her hand over her heart and say there go my boys. And she would always have a tear. Sad but sweet memories for her I am sure.




My grandmother often spoke of World War II. She would mention the black out drills, the rationing and the the Great Depression. She loved telling stories. But she never once mentioned the great pandemic of the Spanish Flu. She survived all of this. And we too will survive this pandemic. And maybe like her I will never mention it again.

My grandmother Bertha Wilson with me 1953