"She was a lovely girl, ever striving to do good in the world and for others," reads the obituary of Lansing Business University co-ed Ivah Verne Acre. "She was a good student and had perfect marks in all her work in the business college."
Ivah was born September 19, 1897 in tiny Elsie, Michigan, a village barely over a square mile in size. It's located within the township of Duplain, an unincorporated community on the Maple River. Elsie rests within the palm of the glove shape which makes up most of the Great Lakes State.
The third of five children born to Edward and Grace Acre, Ivah attended local schools, graduated from St. Johns High in Elsie in 1918 and then entered Lansing Business University. After four months there (about 15 weeks), Ivah was close to graduation when, in early December, she caught the flu – along with some 500 million other people all over the world.
It was a pandemic described as "the greatest medical holocaust in history." Between June 1918 and December 1919, about three percent of the world's population (about 27% of those infected) died as a result of the dreaded Spanish Flu. It killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS killed in 24 years – and more in a year than The Black Death killed in a century.
The Spanish Flu was a virus which created cytokine storm – a dramatic overreaction of the body's immune system. The symptoms seemed so unusual in 1918 that initially the illness was misdiagnosed as dengue, cholera or typhoid. One observer wrote, "One of the most striking of the complications was hemorrhage from mucous membranes, especially from the nose, stomach, and intestine. Bleeding from the ears and petechial hemorrhages in the skin also occurred."
The majority of deaths were from bacterial pneumonia, a secondary infection caused by the influenza. The virus also killed people directly, causing massive hemorrhages and edema in the lung. Remarkably, the weaker immune systems of children and middle-aged adults resulted in relatively few fatalities. The bulk of the victims were young adults whose strong immune systems triggered the most massive, body ravaging attacks. One of those young adults was Ivah, who celebrated her 21st birthday barely three months before her passing.
Ivah became ill shortly before she was due to graduate. After several days of her symptoms growing worse, she left campus and checked into the hospital in Lansing. Two weeks later, at 20 minutes past 2 in the afternoon, she was gone. It was Christmas Day, 1918.
"Sweet Young Life Victim Of Pneumonia," read the headline on page 1 of the January 2, 1919 edition of The Clinton County Republican. "Her loss was keenly felt by her teachers and associates and a crushing blow to her parents and brothers and sisters. She was a faithful member of Disciple Church at the Colony. Besides her parents, she leaves two brothers nd two sisters – Ella, Orrin, Muriel and Ward -- besides other relatives and a host of friends. A short service was held on the arrival of the remains from Lansing Friday morning. Reverend Fisher of the Disciple Church at the Colony, officiating." The obituary ends with these words: "Mr. and Mrs. Acre have the sympathy of the entire community."
It would not be the last time that tragedy would strike the Edward Acre family – particularly Ivah's mother, Grace, and sister, Ella.
Name: Iva Verne Acre
Birth Date: 19 Sep 1897
Birthplace: Duplain Township, Michigan
Father's Name: Edward A. Acre
Mother's Name: Grace Acre
Collection: Michigan Births and Christenings, 1775-1995
Ivah's obituary was posted in the Clinton Republican newspaper on Jan 2, 1919 on page 1, column 2.
NOTE: As a tribute to Ivah Verne Acre, her brother, Orin, named one of his daughters after her. The findagrave page for that Ivah -- who was born in 1930 and whose married name was Ivah Risley -- can be found here at findagrave.com at #15164970.
Four days after Ivah's passing, her sister Elma sent the following letter to her remaining sister, Ella. This letter remained lost for over a century -- untile it was finally found in 2020. It provides an insightful window into the kinds of women Ivah and Elma were and what the Acre family was like. -- Gary Theroux, a grandson of Ella and a son of Marjorie (who was born earlier in 1918)
Dearest Sister Ella, brother and little Marjorie,
We’ve laid our darling at rest in Riverdale Cemetery in Elsie Friday when the beautiful sun shone on her earthly mansion for the last time. We opened the casket there and we bid her earthly mansion farewell. Reverend. Fisher read a few verses from the Bible and offered a few words, saying that the silver cord was loosened and the golden bowl broken – only to be mended by praise as we enter the pearly gates. He sang a beautiful song.
You ask why she took others advice instead of yours. Dear sister, there are so many questions why but the answer must be the will of God. Everything pointed that she must be taken from us. Dear sister, you know that the hour the silver cord was broken, our family was scattered. Only death could mend the silver cord and her life was the only one that could mend it. It was to be dear, and she said the reason that she acted as she did was because you did use and love our mother. It seems sometimes that my life outside the family now is vacant. School life, which was so happy, is has ended. Yet there comes a thought over me. I see that while I stay on Earth, I must carry out her plans and mine to make the old house beautiful -- and do so while seemingly alone in the world. I hope we all have a guardian angel. If is the will of God that we should never meet again, I want you to know that I love you and all of our family. I am willing to die but must do all in my power to help Mother, Father and little brother. You know, dear sister, that our loving mother will someday be called above and in time Ward will marry. Then I will be ready to go to the home above and meet our darling who is just away – plus other darlings who have passed away -- if it is the will of God. That gives us something to soothe our wandering lonely thoughts. Don’t forget brother Ward when you write. He is suffering so deep, so deep. We all try to comfort each other and it brings us nearer.
Don’t worry, dear sister. What matters in this world is only the happiness of our dear ones. Think, dear, if our darling in heaven who loves you very dear was still on earth. Down deep she loved and forgave all. Remember her as the beautiful lily angel in heaven who guides us, each and every one. They are talking of your beautiful baby Marjorie, so when you write, write much of her.
We are all going over of Orin’s for New Year’s to spend the day together. How happy your angel sister must be that the golden cord she has broken down has torn away every ugly thought and now all is well. Life will ever lord over death and love can never lose. I am waiting to hear from you soon.
Love to all,
Your Little Sister
Ivah was born September 19, 1897 in tiny Elsie, Michigan, a village barely over a square mile in size. It's located within the township of Duplain, an unincorporated community on the Maple River. Elsie rests within the palm of the glove shape which makes up most of the Great Lakes State.
The third of five children born to Edward and Grace Acre, Ivah attended local schools, graduated from St. Johns High in Elsie in 1918 and then entered Lansing Business University. After four months there (about 15 weeks), Ivah was close to graduation when, in early December, she caught the flu – along with some 500 million other people all over the world.
It was a pandemic described as "the greatest medical holocaust in history." Between June 1918 and December 1919, about three percent of the world's population (about 27% of those infected) died as a result of the dreaded Spanish Flu. It killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS killed in 24 years – and more in a year than The Black Death killed in a century.
The Spanish Flu was a virus which created cytokine storm – a dramatic overreaction of the body's immune system. The symptoms seemed so unusual in 1918 that initially the illness was misdiagnosed as dengue, cholera or typhoid. One observer wrote, "One of the most striking of the complications was hemorrhage from mucous membranes, especially from the nose, stomach, and intestine. Bleeding from the ears and petechial hemorrhages in the skin also occurred."
The majority of deaths were from bacterial pneumonia, a secondary infection caused by the influenza. The virus also killed people directly, causing massive hemorrhages and edema in the lung. Remarkably, the weaker immune systems of children and middle-aged adults resulted in relatively few fatalities. The bulk of the victims were young adults whose strong immune systems triggered the most massive, body ravaging attacks. One of those young adults was Ivah, who celebrated her 21st birthday barely three months before her passing.
Ivah became ill shortly before she was due to graduate. After several days of her symptoms growing worse, she left campus and checked into the hospital in Lansing. Two weeks later, at 20 minutes past 2 in the afternoon, she was gone. It was Christmas Day, 1918.
"Sweet Young Life Victim Of Pneumonia," read the headline on page 1 of the January 2, 1919 edition of The Clinton County Republican. "Her loss was keenly felt by her teachers and associates and a crushing blow to her parents and brothers and sisters. She was a faithful member of Disciple Church at the Colony. Besides her parents, she leaves two brothers nd two sisters – Ella, Orrin, Muriel and Ward -- besides other relatives and a host of friends. A short service was held on the arrival of the remains from Lansing Friday morning. Reverend Fisher of the Disciple Church at the Colony, officiating." The obituary ends with these words: "Mr. and Mrs. Acre have the sympathy of the entire community."
It would not be the last time that tragedy would strike the Edward Acre family – particularly Ivah's mother, Grace, and sister, Ella.
Name: Iva Verne Acre
Birth Date: 19 Sep 1897
Birthplace: Duplain Township, Michigan
Father's Name: Edward A. Acre
Mother's Name: Grace Acre
Collection: Michigan Births and Christenings, 1775-1995
Ivah's obituary was posted in the Clinton Republican newspaper on Jan 2, 1919 on page 1, column 2.
NOTE: As a tribute to Ivah Verne Acre, her brother, Orin, named one of his daughters after her. The findagrave page for that Ivah -- who was born in 1930 and whose married name was Ivah Risley -- can be found here at findagrave.com at #15164970.
Four days after Ivah's passing, her sister Elma sent the following letter to her remaining sister, Ella. This letter remained lost for over a century -- untile it was finally found in 2020. It provides an insightful window into the kinds of women Ivah and Elma were and what the Acre family was like. -- Gary Theroux, a grandson of Ella and a son of Marjorie (who was born earlier in 1918)
Dearest Sister Ella, brother and little Marjorie,
We’ve laid our darling at rest in Riverdale Cemetery in Elsie Friday when the beautiful sun shone on her earthly mansion for the last time. We opened the casket there and we bid her earthly mansion farewell. Reverend. Fisher read a few verses from the Bible and offered a few words, saying that the silver cord was loosened and the golden bowl broken – only to be mended by praise as we enter the pearly gates. He sang a beautiful song.
You ask why she took others advice instead of yours. Dear sister, there are so many questions why but the answer must be the will of God. Everything pointed that she must be taken from us. Dear sister, you know that the hour the silver cord was broken, our family was scattered. Only death could mend the silver cord and her life was the only one that could mend it. It was to be dear, and she said the reason that she acted as she did was because you did use and love our mother. It seems sometimes that my life outside the family now is vacant. School life, which was so happy, is has ended. Yet there comes a thought over me. I see that while I stay on Earth, I must carry out her plans and mine to make the old house beautiful -- and do so while seemingly alone in the world. I hope we all have a guardian angel. If is the will of God that we should never meet again, I want you to know that I love you and all of our family. I am willing to die but must do all in my power to help Mother, Father and little brother. You know, dear sister, that our loving mother will someday be called above and in time Ward will marry. Then I will be ready to go to the home above and meet our darling who is just away – plus other darlings who have passed away -- if it is the will of God. That gives us something to soothe our wandering lonely thoughts. Don’t forget brother Ward when you write. He is suffering so deep, so deep. We all try to comfort each other and it brings us nearer.
Don’t worry, dear sister. What matters in this world is only the happiness of our dear ones. Think, dear, if our darling in heaven who loves you very dear was still on earth. Down deep she loved and forgave all. Remember her as the beautiful lily angel in heaven who guides us, each and every one. They are talking of your beautiful baby Marjorie, so when you write, write much of her.
We are all going over of Orin’s for New Year’s to spend the day together. How happy your angel sister must be that the golden cord she has broken down has torn away every ugly thought and now all is well. Life will ever lord over death and love can never lose. I am waiting to hear from you soon.
Love to all,
Your Little Sister
"She was a lovely girl, ever striving to do good in the world and for others," reads the obituary of Lansing Business University co-ed Ivah Verne Acre. "She was a good student and had perfect marks in all her work in the business college."
Ivah was born September 19, 1897 in tiny Elsie, Michigan, a village barely over a square mile in size. It's located within the township of Duplain, an unincorporated community on the Maple River. Elsie rests within the palm of the glove shape which makes up most of the Great Lakes State.
The third of five children born to Edward and Grace Acre, Ivah attended local schools, graduated from St. Johns High in Elsie in 1918 and then entered Lansing Business University. After four months there (about 15 weeks), Ivah was close to graduation when, in early December, she caught the flu – along with some 500 million other people all over the world.
It was a pandemic described as "the greatest medical holocaust in history." Between June 1918 and December 1919, about three percent of the world's population (about 27% of those infected) died as a result of the dreaded Spanish Flu. It killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS killed in 24 years – and more in a year than The Black Death killed in a century.
The Spanish Flu was a virus which created cytokine storm – a dramatic overreaction of the body's immune system. The symptoms seemed so unusual in 1918 that initially the illness was misdiagnosed as dengue, cholera or typhoid. One observer wrote, "One of the most striking of the complications was hemorrhage from mucous membranes, especially from the nose, stomach, and intestine. Bleeding from the ears and petechial hemorrhages in the skin also occurred."
The majority of deaths were from bacterial pneumonia, a secondary infection caused by the influenza. The virus also killed people directly, causing massive hemorrhages and edema in the lung. Remarkably, the weaker immune systems of children and middle-aged adults resulted in relatively few fatalities. The bulk of the victims were young adults whose strong immune systems triggered the most massive, body ravaging attacks. One of those young adults was Ivah, who celebrated her 21st birthday barely three months before her passing.
Ivah became ill shortly before she was due to graduate. After several days of her symptoms growing worse, she left campus and checked into the hospital in Lansing. Two weeks later, at 20 minutes past 2 in the afternoon, she was gone. It was Christmas Day, 1918.
"Sweet Young Life Victim Of Pneumonia," read the headline on page 1 of the January 2, 1919 edition of The Clinton County Republican. "Her loss was keenly felt by her teachers and associates and a crushing blow to her parents and brothers and sisters. She was a faithful member of Disciple Church at the Colony. Besides her parents, she leaves two brothers nd two sisters – Ella, Orrin, Muriel and Ward -- besides other relatives and a host of friends. A short service was held on the arrival of the remains from Lansing Friday morning. Reverend Fisher of the Disciple Church at the Colony, officiating." The obituary ends with these words: "Mr. and Mrs. Acre have the sympathy of the entire community."
It would not be the last time that tragedy would strike the Edward Acre family – particularly Ivah's mother, Grace, and sister, Ella.
Name: Iva Verne Acre
Birth Date: 19 Sep 1897
Birthplace: Duplain Township, Michigan
Father's Name: Edward A. Acre
Mother's Name: Grace Acre
Collection: Michigan Births and Christenings, 1775-1995
Ivah's obituary was posted in the Clinton Republican newspaper on Jan 2, 1919 on page 1, column 2.
NOTE: As a tribute to Ivah Verne Acre, her brother, Orin, named one of his daughters after her. The findagrave page for that Ivah -- who was born in 1930 and whose married name was Ivah Risley -- can be found here at findagrave.com at #15164970.
Four days after Ivah's passing, her sister Elma sent the following letter to her remaining sister, Ella. This letter remained lost for over a century -- untile it was finally found in 2020. It provides an insightful window into the kinds of women Ivah and Elma were and what the Acre family was like. -- Gary Theroux, a grandson of Ella and a son of Marjorie (who was born earlier in 1918)
Dearest Sister Ella, brother and little Marjorie,
We’ve laid our darling at rest in Riverdale Cemetery in Elsie Friday when the beautiful sun shone on her earthly mansion for the last time. We opened the casket there and we bid her earthly mansion farewell. Reverend. Fisher read a few verses from the Bible and offered a few words, saying that the silver cord was loosened and the golden bowl broken – only to be mended by praise as we enter the pearly gates. He sang a beautiful song.
You ask why she took others advice instead of yours. Dear sister, there are so many questions why but the answer must be the will of God. Everything pointed that she must be taken from us. Dear sister, you know that the hour the silver cord was broken, our family was scattered. Only death could mend the silver cord and her life was the only one that could mend it. It was to be dear, and she said the reason that she acted as she did was because you did use and love our mother. It seems sometimes that my life outside the family now is vacant. School life, which was so happy, is has ended. Yet there comes a thought over me. I see that while I stay on Earth, I must carry out her plans and mine to make the old house beautiful -- and do so while seemingly alone in the world. I hope we all have a guardian angel. If is the will of God that we should never meet again, I want you to know that I love you and all of our family. I am willing to die but must do all in my power to help Mother, Father and little brother. You know, dear sister, that our loving mother will someday be called above and in time Ward will marry. Then I will be ready to go to the home above and meet our darling who is just away – plus other darlings who have passed away -- if it is the will of God. That gives us something to soothe our wandering lonely thoughts. Don’t forget brother Ward when you write. He is suffering so deep, so deep. We all try to comfort each other and it brings us nearer.
Don’t worry, dear sister. What matters in this world is only the happiness of our dear ones. Think, dear, if our darling in heaven who loves you very dear was still on earth. Down deep she loved and forgave all. Remember her as the beautiful lily angel in heaven who guides us, each and every one. They are talking of your beautiful baby Marjorie, so when you write, write much of her.
We are all going over of Orin’s for New Year’s to spend the day together. How happy your angel sister must be that the golden cord she has broken down has torn away every ugly thought and now all is well. Life will ever lord over death and love can never lose. I am waiting to hear from you soon.
Love to all,
Your Little Sister
Ivah was born September 19, 1897 in tiny Elsie, Michigan, a village barely over a square mile in size. It's located within the township of Duplain, an unincorporated community on the Maple River. Elsie rests within the palm of the glove shape which makes up most of the Great Lakes State.
The third of five children born to Edward and Grace Acre, Ivah attended local schools, graduated from St. Johns High in Elsie in 1918 and then entered Lansing Business University. After four months there (about 15 weeks), Ivah was close to graduation when, in early December, she caught the flu – along with some 500 million other people all over the world.
It was a pandemic described as "the greatest medical holocaust in history." Between June 1918 and December 1919, about three percent of the world's population (about 27% of those infected) died as a result of the dreaded Spanish Flu. It killed more people in 24 weeks than AIDS killed in 24 years – and more in a year than The Black Death killed in a century.
The Spanish Flu was a virus which created cytokine storm – a dramatic overreaction of the body's immune system. The symptoms seemed so unusual in 1918 that initially the illness was misdiagnosed as dengue, cholera or typhoid. One observer wrote, "One of the most striking of the complications was hemorrhage from mucous membranes, especially from the nose, stomach, and intestine. Bleeding from the ears and petechial hemorrhages in the skin also occurred."
The majority of deaths were from bacterial pneumonia, a secondary infection caused by the influenza. The virus also killed people directly, causing massive hemorrhages and edema in the lung. Remarkably, the weaker immune systems of children and middle-aged adults resulted in relatively few fatalities. The bulk of the victims were young adults whose strong immune systems triggered the most massive, body ravaging attacks. One of those young adults was Ivah, who celebrated her 21st birthday barely three months before her passing.
Ivah became ill shortly before she was due to graduate. After several days of her symptoms growing worse, she left campus and checked into the hospital in Lansing. Two weeks later, at 20 minutes past 2 in the afternoon, she was gone. It was Christmas Day, 1918.
"Sweet Young Life Victim Of Pneumonia," read the headline on page 1 of the January 2, 1919 edition of The Clinton County Republican. "Her loss was keenly felt by her teachers and associates and a crushing blow to her parents and brothers and sisters. She was a faithful member of Disciple Church at the Colony. Besides her parents, she leaves two brothers nd two sisters – Ella, Orrin, Muriel and Ward -- besides other relatives and a host of friends. A short service was held on the arrival of the remains from Lansing Friday morning. Reverend Fisher of the Disciple Church at the Colony, officiating." The obituary ends with these words: "Mr. and Mrs. Acre have the sympathy of the entire community."
It would not be the last time that tragedy would strike the Edward Acre family – particularly Ivah's mother, Grace, and sister, Ella.
Name: Iva Verne Acre
Birth Date: 19 Sep 1897
Birthplace: Duplain Township, Michigan
Father's Name: Edward A. Acre
Mother's Name: Grace Acre
Collection: Michigan Births and Christenings, 1775-1995
Ivah's obituary was posted in the Clinton Republican newspaper on Jan 2, 1919 on page 1, column 2.
NOTE: As a tribute to Ivah Verne Acre, her brother, Orin, named one of his daughters after her. The findagrave page for that Ivah -- who was born in 1930 and whose married name was Ivah Risley -- can be found here at findagrave.com at #15164970.
Four days after Ivah's passing, her sister Elma sent the following letter to her remaining sister, Ella. This letter remained lost for over a century -- untile it was finally found in 2020. It provides an insightful window into the kinds of women Ivah and Elma were and what the Acre family was like. -- Gary Theroux, a grandson of Ella and a son of Marjorie (who was born earlier in 1918)
Dearest Sister Ella, brother and little Marjorie,
We’ve laid our darling at rest in Riverdale Cemetery in Elsie Friday when the beautiful sun shone on her earthly mansion for the last time. We opened the casket there and we bid her earthly mansion farewell. Reverend. Fisher read a few verses from the Bible and offered a few words, saying that the silver cord was loosened and the golden bowl broken – only to be mended by praise as we enter the pearly gates. He sang a beautiful song.
You ask why she took others advice instead of yours. Dear sister, there are so many questions why but the answer must be the will of God. Everything pointed that she must be taken from us. Dear sister, you know that the hour the silver cord was broken, our family was scattered. Only death could mend the silver cord and her life was the only one that could mend it. It was to be dear, and she said the reason that she acted as she did was because you did use and love our mother. It seems sometimes that my life outside the family now is vacant. School life, which was so happy, is has ended. Yet there comes a thought over me. I see that while I stay on Earth, I must carry out her plans and mine to make the old house beautiful -- and do so while seemingly alone in the world. I hope we all have a guardian angel. If is the will of God that we should never meet again, I want you to know that I love you and all of our family. I am willing to die but must do all in my power to help Mother, Father and little brother. You know, dear sister, that our loving mother will someday be called above and in time Ward will marry. Then I will be ready to go to the home above and meet our darling who is just away – plus other darlings who have passed away -- if it is the will of God. That gives us something to soothe our wandering lonely thoughts. Don’t forget brother Ward when you write. He is suffering so deep, so deep. We all try to comfort each other and it brings us nearer.
Don’t worry, dear sister. What matters in this world is only the happiness of our dear ones. Think, dear, if our darling in heaven who loves you very dear was still on earth. Down deep she loved and forgave all. Remember her as the beautiful lily angel in heaven who guides us, each and every one. They are talking of your beautiful baby Marjorie, so when you write, write much of her.
We are all going over of Orin’s for New Year’s to spend the day together. How happy your angel sister must be that the golden cord she has broken down has torn away every ugly thought and now all is well. Life will ever lord over death and love can never lose. I am waiting to hear from you soon.
Love to all,
Your Little Sister
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