Influenza, Mary and Me
When I first began my path as a professional genealogist, a paramount goal was to research and share my own family stories. Tonight I got the opportunity to do just that. I spoke to the Ozarks Genealogical Society about the 1918-1920 Influenza Pandemic; a topic for which I have great passion. But tonight was more than just an issue, it was about family. It has been 31 years since I spoke in front of an audience in Springfield, Missouri; and 31 years since my grandmother Roma died, on April 12, 1988. Roma married my grandfather, Carl Christian Siegel, in December 1927 and he had died in 1964. Carl had been married before and lost his first wife, Mary Virginia DeHaven, who is at the center of this story.