Lillian F. McCurdy
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Images
Grave Marker of Lilliam McCurdy
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
Lillian F. McCurdy was a student at Marshall University, which you may have heard is just down the road from here. She was planning to attend Columbia University after graduating. Lilian was estimated to be either 19 or 20 when she contracted the Spanish Influenza. Like most on this tour, she died in the October of 1918. Huntington was not alone when it came to the terrifying month of October 1918. In fact, October of 1918 was the deadliest month in American history, and it was due to the flu. With no CDC and a significant portion of medical experts being drafted into World War I, American citizens were at the mercy of the Spanish Influenza Pandemic. It was up to public officials - Mayors, health commissioners, etc. - to determine what was to be done about the pandemic. It was estimated that 195,000 Americans lost their lives in the month of October alone(3). Lillian was one of those October victims. No death certificate has been located at this point, so the exact date that Lillian left this Earth is unknown. She was daughter to Azel McCurdy and Sue E Sensensey McCurdy and sister to Azel McCurdy, Janice M McCurdy, and Corydon Enslow McCurdy.
Sources
- Spreeuwenberg, Peter. Reassessing the Global Mortality Burden of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic. American Journal of Epidemiology, ser. 2561-2567, vol. 187, no. 12. Published September 7th 2018. NCBI.
- Casto, James E.. "Deadly 1918 flu hit Huntington hard." The Herald-Dispatch (Huntington) May 1st 2009.
- Klein, Christopher. Why October 1918 Was America's Deadliest Month Ever, history.com. October 5th 2018. Accessed April 29th 2021. https://www.history.com/news/spanish-flu-deaths-october-1918.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/62827575/lillian-f.-mccurdy