Part 6: Manitobans who died fighting "Spanish" Influenza

© 2020, Christian Cassidy

This series tells the story of some of the Manitobans who died fighting the "Spanish" Influenza pandemic of 1918 -1919. For the complete list and an introduction to the series, see part one.

Winnifred G. Goulding (1894 - 1918)

Winnifred Goulding was from Saskatchewan and in her second year of studies at the Manitoba Medical College.

When the university closed due to the pandemic, Goulding went with classmate Ada Wilson to her home town of Gladstone, Manitoba to stay. Influenza eventually arrived in the region and Goulding volunteered to tend to a family of ten that had been stricken by the disease at the hamlet of Berton, Manitoba.

Goulding contracted the disease and was sent to Gladstone's isolation ward where she died on November 15th after a week's illmess. Her parents and sister had been called for but arrived after her death.

Goulding's body was returned to Alberta and she was buried in Calgary's Union Cemetery.

For more about Goulding's life, read this updated post.

Image sources:
Portrait from Western Canada Pictorial index, Thorlakson Medical College Collection
Gravestone from No Worries on Find a Grave
Headline from Nov. 21, 1918, Govan Prairie News

Orana / Livinia / Linia Young (1894- 1918)

Miss Young , (there are references to her by three different given names), was the daughter of J. W. Young of Nesbitt, Manitoba. The family had relocated to Wilkie, Saskatchewan after a couple of crop failures devastated their finances. It was on a visit back to Nesbitt that Young saw an ad pleading for more nurses to come to Winnipeg to help fight the influenza pandemic and she responded.

Little is known about her service. A newspaper article does not mention she was trained nurse, so likely came and served as a volunteer.

Young contracted the disease and died at Winnipeg General Hospital around December 15, 1918 at the age of 24.

According to a Winnipeg Tribune story that appeared on December 16th, Orana Young's father arrived in Winnipeg and wanted to bring her body back to Nesbitt for burial in the family plot. The Youngs were struggling financially and Mrs. Young had influenza, so he could not afford the cost of transporting her.  The story pointed out that it was not Young himself, but friends of the family that contacted the city to request that a stipend be given to help the family out. 

The matter came before the city’s Board of Control, essentially its finance committee, at its December 16th meeting. The board wanted to help but was only authorized to make a payment of $25 in the case of a death - just enough to bury someone in a pauper’s grave. Anything more would have to be approved by city council and that could take a couple of weeks. There was also concern that the city might not issue the cheque without council approval as the two bodies often butted heads about overstepping their respective spending authority.

Board chairman John Cockburn told the Tribune, “We have no authority to issue the cheque, but we'll get around it somehow." This meant contacting other committee chairs to see of there was a legal way around the spending matter and, in the end, contacting individual councillors to explain what was being done so that they weren't caught by surprise when asked to approve the $100 expense after the fact.

The plan seems to have worked. The Free Press wrote in their December 17th issue that 'a nurse from Saskatchewan who had died' would have her body shipped home following the funeral.

The second time Miss Young was mentioned in a news story was at that January 1919 meeting of the city's Social Welfare Commission that discussed the bronze tablet for nurses. The commission was going to write the family of Livinia Young thanking them for her service and expressing regret at her death.

Confirming Miss Young's final resting place is difficult. An online search of Nesbitt area cemeteries on online grave sites show no one of that last name buried in 1918. (A search of death records at Manitoba Vital Statistics lists a Linia Young that died on December 14th in Winnipeg at the age of 24 but does not track the place of burial.)

Image sources:
Headline from Dec. 16, 1918, Winnipeg Tribune
Death notice from Manitoba Vital Statistics

Edna May Firby (1897 - 1920)

Edna May Firby, 23, graduated from St. Boniface hospital's nursing program in October 1918 and was assigned to hospital duties. She also lived at the hospital.

On March 2, 1920, Firby died of pneumonia after just a couple of day's illness. A brief newspaper article does not specifically mention influenza, but given that she died of pneumonia so quickly after becoming ill means that it is likely.

Firby's funeral was at Augustine Church, where she was a member, and she was buried in Elmwood Cemetery.

This case shows that the official years of the influenza pandemic were 1918 to 1919, it continued to linger in the community long after. As late as January 1921 ads can be found in local newspapers encouraging women to sign up for training sessions to become V.A.D. influenza nurses.

Image source: March 4, 1920, Winnipeg Free Press