I was wind-ing down, a war which claimed the life of A.C. Hansen, in honor of whom the local American Legion post was named. The tornado devastated the town in July, killing 36 people. Tyler felt the impact of the epidemic, too. Harald Petersen recalls his mother saying about 30 people died in Tyler. That, in fact, is not influenza but a different virus altogether.
Influenza is a virus that causes upper respiratory infection.
The virus killed some of the people, and it weakened many more who died of complications like pneumonia. The only people who can still recollect the 1918-19 pandemic known as the Spanish flu were children at the time. At a recent Danebod Village afternoon coffee, some of them shared memories. When influenza entered a house-hold, it often put the whole family in bed. Leola Westphal's whole family was ill.