Walker Ray (Corky) my wife Pat and I made a drive down to Eastern Oklahoma some years ago. Our destination was Maxie Cemetery, about a mile off US-270 a few miles this side of Wister, Oklahoma. We went there to place some new gravestones — the main one marking our grandfather George Washington Boyd’s grave. He was my mom’s dad and he died young in the great pandemic of 1918. May 17 ^th of 1918 to be exact. There was the grave of my great Uncle there too and his was illegible too. So we replaced his too. His name was Mike Boyd. The old sandstones had faded away so bad you could not read the hand chiseled names and dates on them. Corky believed, as did I that families should see to things like this. Neglected graves can become “lost.”

Grandpa had been to Fort Smith that long ago spring-like time as he stepped off the train there in Wister, Oklahoma. Grandpa had a high fever, and he was a song-leader for a Missionary Baptist Church up on the slope of Wolf Mountain. He had been to Fort Smith to attend song leader’s music conference. That was a fatal choice and a mistake. An able piano player and musician, Grandpa George had created a large family of singers. Daughters Flora, Lora, Cora, Dora, and Ruth like their mama Julia were left to fend for themselves on their hardscrabble farm on Wolf Mountain Road. Whenever they went to church, the girls could be heard from a distance. All singing and doing it loud and sweet. Thus people on the ridge called them “the little singing girls.”

Grandpa’s high fever was caused by the flu; a flu that raged across America in that time frame and he died from it the next day. My other grandpa, J. T. Bullard and a member of George Boyd’s church went to the farm and not only built a coffin but dressed Mom’s dad for burial. Burial was at Maxie Cemetery just off US-270 just west of Wister. It was near the former town of Victor.

The great flu of 1918 killed about 50 million people in the United States. 500 million are said to have died worldwide. This virus was called H1N1. Sound familiar? It should. The flu virus we are dealing with is also an H1N1 of the DM09 variety. In 1952 the US was swept by another flu once more. Not so deadly this time. Then there was the flu called “Hong Kong Flu” back in 1958. It was a killer flu too. I was in the Navy then, aboard a destroyer. The USS Johnnie Hutchins had just completed a cruise and port calls to Barranquilla, Columbia and several other ports in South and Central America. The trip back to Boston took several days. They were memorable. The flu got us while we were on the open sea.

Later, port authorities there in Boston would not let us in. We were contagious, they said. They made us anchor way out in Boston Harbor. There said there were no beds available for us. The hospitals were overflowing, and we had to make do. We did and to my surprise no one died. I never even had a sniffle from it. I was one of about a dozen that seemed to have immunity. So, we had all put aside our ranks and designated qualifications and we all did what we had to do to bring the ship in. If your fever was under 101 you had to report and work. Lots of griping about this temperature selection. Oh yes, the ship was underway, and we all had to work double time to keep that all working.

We had no masks aboard which may be why that flu jumped on just about all of us. No vaccines had been developed to bail us out. But like I said. That was in 1958. Now, this is different. We know now that wearing masks gives some protection. Now, during this COVID Pandemic, we have plenty of mask. Of course, their use has been sporadic. Shots are here now and I am pretty sure this killer flu will soon be history. Remembered but happily forgotten. Now If let’s all line up and take those shots.

On a happier note, people are trickling back to church and I encourage all to do just that. Get back in. And take care of your health. Its important to all of us.

Wayne Bullard, DPh

cwaynebullard@gmail.com