Men Write History, But Women Live It

The influenza pandemic of 1918 struck the United States suddenly and ruthlessly. It spread with an efficiency that brought entire cities to their knees, claiming not just the very young and very old, but also otherwise healthy people in the middle of their lives ― the kind of people flu season usually spared. In Philadelphia alone, 12,000 people died in less than five weeks. In New York City, it was 30,000 people in less than 18 months.

One of those 30,000 was the youngest child of the Wisner family of Brooklyn. She was three years old. Her three older siblings survived the pandemic; her only sister, Belle, is now 103, and she is my grandmother.

A few years ago, though we’re not quite sure just when it happened, Grandma Belle reached the age where people congratulate her on being alive. She doesn’t look nearly as old as she is, and one of her favorite games is to have a stranger guess how old she is and revel in the look of disbelief or admiration on their face when she reveals the truth: that she’s older than World War I.


Source : huffingtonpost