—President E.H. Russell’s reflection on the epidemic1
Nurses
As the war was coming to an end in the fall of 1918, another conflict was brewing on the homefront: the Spanish influenza. Brought by soldiers returning from Europe, it had already reached millions around the world when it arrived in Fredericksburg in late September/early October. Like many other communities worldwide, Fredericksburg and the State Normal School were not spared from the epidemic, and the flu quickly spread through both the school and the community. The State Normal School had little hope for resistance against the virus due to the close living quarters of its students, faculty, and staff. Just like the rest of the world, the State Normal School was frozen in the wake of the epidemic.
FSNS shut down for a total of 8 consecutive days at the end of September and the beginning of October because of the flu.2 Over 200 students and half of the faculty and staff had fallen ill, quickly overrunning the infirmary (at the time located in Willard Hall).3 Among the sick staff was the school’s primary physician, making the situation on campus even worse.4 Unable to care for his patients, the school’s physician was replaced by Dr. H.M. DeJarnette, a member of the Normal School Board. Dr. DeJarnette, along with a corps of nurses, treated the ill at the school. Just as the soldiers in Europe were fighting in the war, the doctor was waging a war against the Spanish influenza, caring around the clock for sick students and faculty.5
Nurse and Soldier
The school regarded Dr. DeJarnette as a hero because of his efforts and quick response to the epidemic.6 Not only was he able to fight off the disease without losing a single patient, he also refused any monetary payment for his services simply because, as he stated, it would “establish a bad policy.”7 Thanks to Dr. DeJarnette and the nurse corps, FSNS students, faculty, and staff recovered from the flu fairly quickly, and by October 7 the school was ready to return to its normal operations.8 However, not everything remained unchanged—the quick spread of the flu and the school’s general unpreparedness signaled the need for change. In a report made on April 10, 1919, President Russell stated that “The school is in need of better infirmary accommodations. This is readily seen at any time, but has been forcibly impressed during our experience with epidemics.”9
Though the school never lost a patient directly under its care, the institution did lose one of its most prominent and beloved faculty members, Virginia M. Goolrick. She was chair of the History Department at the school and cared deeply about her students. When the flu struck Fredericksburg and FSNS, Goolrick fell ill, and she went home to her family who lived in downtown Fredericksburg. They ran a pharmacy downtown and took her under their own care.10 Unfortunately, just as Mrs. Goolrick was recovering from the flu, she contracted pneumonia and died on October 2, 1918.11 FSNS students, faculty, and staff, as well as members of the Fredericksburg community, deeply mourned the loss of Mrs. Goolrick.12
Nurses and Soldiers
Like the State Normal School, Fredericksburg was unable to escape the influenza epidemic. As early as September 27, 1918, The Daily Star reported that “There are many cases of influenza in this community . . . in many families in the city there are one or more cases. In some instances the entire families are ill.”13 Two days earlier, Mayor Josiah P. Rowe had issued a proclamation in accordance with the city’s Board of Health, closing “all places of public assembly, including churches, Sunday schools, public schools, and all places of amusement, such as motion pictures and dance halls.”14 Mayor Rowe closed these places for an undetermined period of time, not knowing how long the flu epidemic would grip the city. The disease was on the decline by the second week in October, though reports of illness and death continued to appear in The Daily Star for several weeks, and public places in Fredericksburg gradually reopened.15
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Notes
1. Report by President Edward Russell, April 10, 1919, Edward H. Russell Records, 1909–1919, Folder 15, Special Collections and University Archives, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington.
2. Report by President Edward Russell, November 30, 1918, Edward H. Russell Records, 1909–1919, Folder 15, Special Collections and University Archives, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington.
3. Report by President Edward Russell, April 10, 1919, Edward H. Russell Records, 1909–1919, Folder 15, Special Collections and University Archives, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington; Infirmary location: Carolyn S. Parsons, e-mail to Leah Tams, March 26, 2014.
4. Ibid.
5. William B. Crawley, Jr., University of Mary Washington: A Centennial History, 1908–2008 (Fredericksburg, VA: University of Mary Washington Foundation, 2008), 18.
6. Ibid.
7. DeJarnette, as quoted in Ibid.
8. Edward Alvey, Jr., History of Mary Washington College: 1908–1972 (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1974), 89.
9. Report by President Edward Russell, April 10, 1919, Edward H. Russell Records, 1909–1919, Folder 15, Special Collections and University Archives, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington. Prior to the flu, the school had several instances of students falling ill, and the lack of proper medical accommodations and the close living quarters allowed diseases to spread quickly throughout campus. Report by President Edward Russell, 1918, Edward H. Russell Records, 1909–1919, Folder 12, Special Collections and University Archives, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington.
10. Ibid.
11. Alvey, History of Mary Washington College, 89.
12. Battlefield Yearbook, 1919, 28, Special Collections and University Archives, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington, https://archive.org/details/battlefield191900univ (accessed March 19, 2014).
13. “Newsy Nuggets: Many Cases of Influenza,” The Daily Star, September 27, 1918, Google News Archive, http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0O8xAAAAIBAJ&sjid=to8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2824%2C1214767 (accessed May 12, 2014).
14. Ibid., “Notice”; Alvey, History of Mary Washington College, 88–89.
15. See, for example, The Daily Star, October 7, 1918, Google News Archive, http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2O8xAAAAIBAJ&sjid=to8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=3990%2C1393427 (accessed May 12, 2014); Alvey, History of Mary Washington College, 89.
Image Citations
1. “Nurses,” Lalie Lett Webb Scrapbook, 1918, Special Collections and University Archives, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington.
2. “Nurse and Soldier,” Lalie Lett Webb Scrapbook, 1918, Special Collections and University Archives, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington.
3. “Nurses and Soldiers,” Lalie Lett Webb Scrapbook, 1918, Special Collections and University Archives, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington.
Voices of the Great War Citation
1. Ruth Coder Fitzgerald, “Women Go to War,” The Free Lance-Star, November 10, 2001, Google News Archive, http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wTIzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kAgGAAAAIBAJ&pg=2084%2C2774292 (accessed March 27, 2014).
