The Grip of 1918

This article was first published in the bulletin of December 27, 2020.
Known in history as the ‘Spanish flu’ the reference is misleading. As Europe grappled with the most devastating and far reaching war then known in modern times, a pandemic was spreading across the trenches and towns of Europe, killing in the barracks and kitchens as well as on the front lines.  Given the challenges of waging war, the countries at conflict instituted a news blackout on the casualties and growing threat of the epidemic. Since Spain was neutral in the war, it had no censure for news on the illness. As a result, the news that reached the United States came only from Spain and therefore it was identified as the ‘Spanish flu.’  For others, it was more generically known by most as ‘the Grip.’

The first mention of it in Milford occurred in the Milford Daily News on September 11, 1918, when reference was made of an influenza making an impact in Boston.  “A malady—called Spanish influenza by some, old-fashioned grip by others, and there are those who won’t even guess—has Boston in its clutches.”  Within a week, the Claflin School in Milford would be closed for fumigation, since several of its students had taken ill.  Their symptoms were labeled as light and the closing was in an ‘abundance of caution.’  This initial event would later be recognized as an indicator that this flu would strike Milford differently than anywhere else in the world.  The Influenza of 1918 generally attacked people in the prime of  their life, ranging in age from 18 to 45, leaving the elderly and children untouched.  Here, in Milford, the death toll among the youngest population would be significantly higher than other parts of the state and the country.

By September 18^th, there was a fear in town about the increasing occurrence of sickness attributed to the grip.  It centered mostly around the eastern area of town, the Plains, Bear hill and the depots.  There was a rumor that the local schools would be closing but the Milford Daily News of the same date has a statement from Superintendent of Schools Caswell that the schools would not be closing, that attendance was normal, and that he had not received any reports about the influenza in town.  Two days later, everything would change.  The headline for the Milford Daily News on September 20^th identifies six victims of the flu, two of them sisters, one aged ten years and her sister of seven months, who died within fifteen minutes of each other.  Two others were children, ages nine and three years; and two adults.  The story carried the news that another family in town had six members ill.  It was announced that schools would be closed for a week, the town fathers were considering closing “moving picture places,” and that 30 employees at Huckins and Temple shoe factory were at home, ill with the disease.  Time would show this was just the beginning.

This article was first published in the bulletin of January 3, 2021.
The Milford Daily News on the next day, September 21, 1918, carried news of a meeting between the Board of Health, the selectmen and telephone conferences with local doctors.  As a result of this, “local theatres and all amusement places” were closed until further notice, “as a result of the grip epidemic in town.”  The situation in town was dire, as the doctors described it to the town fathers.  “The doctors informed the officials that the epidemic in town is serious.  Hardly a house on Beach or East Street but has one or more cases.  In one family the mother and two children are ill.  The doctors reported an urgent need of nurses to care for the patients, as the large amount of sickness has exhausted the local supply.”

The same article gave indication that in just a few days the grip was spreading across town.  There were no empty beds in the Milford hospital and there was concern that patients already there not be in contact with those infected with the grip.  It reported that workers in every department in the local factories were out sick, but no one saw the need to close manufacturing plants at that time.  Perhaps in an effort to not sound overly pessimistic, the article claimed that “There are, however, indications that the conditions will improve, and bright sunlight will do much to aid in stopping the spread of the contagion and the recovery of those who are ill.”  In another article in the same edition of the newspaper, an announcement was made that a dance scheduled to benefit the soldiers at Camp Devens for the following Friday had been postponed, but that ticket holders should hold their tickets since they would be honored for admission at a later date.

Rather than improving, two days later, the Milford Daily News published a front page article that the death toll had reached 11 in Milford.  Among the recent casualties was Pvt. Joseph Luchini who had been stationed at Camp Devens and gotten sick while at home on furlough.  A native of Milford and a graduate of local schools, he was only 21 years old and had been enlisted for four months.  In the same article, John Higgiston, chairman of the board of health, estimated that there were 350 cases ill with the grip in town.  “He and a nurse whom the board was fortunate enough to get, made the rounds of the most seriously afflicted cases yesterday and again this forenoon.  He secured the permission of the police chief to avoid the appearance of breaking the national order for gasless Sundays.”  (The ordinance of gasless Sundays prohibited motor vehicle travel to assist the war cause.)

This article was first published in the bulletins of January 10 and 17, 2021.

The article continued to detail the visits of Mr. Higgiston of the Board of Health. It shared a tenement that he visited on Depot Street where one had died and five others were seriously ill, with only an aged and feeble woman as their caretaker.  He then visited a family on Central Street where one had died and five others were sick.  Around the corner from there, on Beach Street, he found an entire family ill except for the father who was caring for the others.  Wherever he went on Pond, Mt. Pleasant, Hayward and East Main Streets, he found similar conditions.  In one home it was reported that he found a large gathering of neighbors and many children where a deceased girl was still there while many in the house were ill with the grip.  “He asks the News to make plain that such gatherings in infected homes are simply suicide for many little ones.”

Beyond the incidence of whole families ill in the Plains area, there were other aspects that the town fathers were trying to stem the tide, but it was affecting many aspects of life in Milford.  The health board asked undertakers to limit funeral services to be as private as possible.  It delayed a town program to fill out questionnaires for those who were drafted when many of the local attorneys who were helping “were absent on account of illness.”  The morning of September 23^rd was the funeral of Palma Del Castello who was 30 years old and a victim of the grip.  Later that afternoon at 2:30 was the funeral for Mrs. Grazie Ruggerio, also 30 years old, and an hour later was the funeral of Maria De Francesco, aged 25.  All three were buried in Saint Mary’s Cemetery, with the funeral for Private Luchini, who was 21 years old, scheduled for the following day, the 24^th.

The Milford Daily News continued to carry the sad details of the death toll each day.  On September 24^th, the deaths had reached 13 in Milford with Josephine Gheller having died earlier that day; she was 29 years old.  Nichola Iadorola also died that same day.  The next day, September 25^th, listed Thomas Hynes, 30 years old, and Mary Mazzone, the three-year-old sister of Josephine and Louise who were identified as the first victims of the influenza in Milford.  Six-year-old Josephine Grillo had died the night before also.  According to the news, all of these victims were interred in Saint Mary’s Cemetery.  At the same time, the Town Solicitor and Board of Health met with the Metropolitan Insurance Co. to discuss the situation in Milford and secured a promise of three district nurses to serve the infirmed in town.  Anyone who had knowledge of anyone in need of this medical assistance was asked to contact Mrs. Josephine Bowen who had charge of the nurses.

The next day, September 26^th, the death toll had reached 19 victims in Milford.  The newest victims were Thirza Plouff, a woman of ‘about 50 years’ who had been ill only a short time; her husband and son were both critically ill as well.  Enrico Savelli, aged 30, had died earlier that morning, and was survived by his wife and two children.  Beatrice Cenedella, a 16 year old had died that afternoon.  Again, all of the victims were buried in Saint Mary’s Cemetery.  The article ended with a bleak forecast, “Chairman J. E. Higgiston of the board of health this morning made a round of the serious cases, lists of which were given him by the local doctors, mainly pneumonia cases of more or less gravity.  But for the rain today there had been hopes for improvement in the local situation, but there is no lessening yet of the serious nature of Milford’s affliction.”  This dire situation now had the attention of state officials.

On September 28^th, a telegram came from Henry Endicott of the Massachusetts Public Health committee to Judge J. C. Lynch, chairman of the Milford Public Safety committee.  It read:

“Communicate immediately with your board of health and wire me today:  The number of your active doctors, active nurses and number of influenza cases; the number of doctors, nurses and nurses’ aids absolutely necessary, and where additional beds could be placed in present hospital structures, if nurses and attendants could be provided.  Wire daily until further notice the number of new cases of influenza in your municipality, and address to which nurses and doctors should be sent to report for duty.”

The committee held an emergency meeting in Judge Lynch’s office and sent a reply by wire to Endicott:

“Conditions here are serious.  About 500 to 600 cases here.  Many are bad pneumonia cases, with no attendants.  There are 27 cases to date.  Have nine active doctors and two active nurses.  Will fit emergency hospital in Y.M.C.A. rooms Saturday with 24 beds.  Will need five doctors and 10 nurses, with five nurses’ aids, to make any inroad on the disease.  Every public place of meeting is closed.  Aid is imperative.  Have doctors and nurses report to undersigned, Baker block.  Please wire if help can be sent, and time expected to arrive.  Will wire daily.   John C. Lynch.

The committee went right to work. It had ruled out the Town Hall or the Armory as a site for the emergency hospital as neither was as available as the YMCA quarters.  By noontime, 25 beds had been delivered and installed at the YMCA.  However, there had been no response from Endicott on the state’s ability to provide staffing with doctors and nurses.  Meanwhile the Baptist and Congregational churches had met and were prepared to suspend services when the action by the Board made their decision unnecessary.  Mr. Higgiston had met with both Catholic pastors, Fr. McGrath at Saint Mary’s and Fr. Lona at Sacred Heart.  Neither were willing to make the decision to suspend their Masses for the upcoming weekend.  Fr. McGrath agreed that “so far as possible due regard would be given the wishes of the board of health.”  And Fr. Lona, “felt that he had no authority, but would at once bring the matter to the attention of Bishop Beaven, head of the diocese.”  The article made a grim conclusion given that there were over 500 cases in Milford and nearly two dozen deaths already, that “Services will be held in both these churches substantially as usual.”

Elsewhere in the News of September 28^th, it listed the details for the deaths of the latest victims.  Miss Beatrice Cenedella’s funeral had been that morning in Sacred Heart Church.  Edward Trainor’s funeral had been at 2:30 and that of Angelo Mancini earlier from his home on Beach Street at 10:30 am, while that of Leo Parante occurred at his home on East Main Street.  All were interred in Saint Mary’s Cemetery.  James Nugent was listed as the latest casualty of the influenza with his funeral scheduled for the following day. 

This article was first published in the bulletin of January 24, 2021.

On Monday, September 30^th, there was some encouraging development that a hospital train had been furnished by Maryland with 40 beds and with it 5 doctors and 10 nurses.  The News tried to make the situation more hopeful as it ended its article with this observation, “With the continuance for a few more days of clear crisp weather, a very substantial falling off in the number of new cases of influenza-pneumonia and deaths resulting from these diseases is anticipated by health officials.”  Wishful thinking, the situation was worsening with no change visible soon.  In another article in the same edition, the headline added 14 deaths to the total in Milford.  It surmised there were now 700 cases, with local druggists each filling 125 prescriptions for influenza related illnesses.  (These numbers are overwhelming, in a community of 14,000 in 1918; 700 cases amounted to 5% of the population, or one in every 20 townspeople.  A century later, in 2020, the town's census would be 27,000, so the same percentage would be 1,350 cases!  And realize that this was in the span of two weeks, that one in every 20 townspeople were seriously, some deathly ill in less than half a month's time.) Local doctors were each averaging 65 calls for the morning.  There were three nurses that had been sent to Milford, but the YMCA emergency hospital had not yet been activated.  The list of victims was disproportionately young:  Anthony Burke (38 years old), Lilia Quattropani (24 yrs), Antonio Iacoveli (32), Domingo Cardoso (35), Luigina Sostilio (2 years), Antonio Niro (8 months), Pasquale Tusoni (4 years), Josephine Belmonti (38), John Murphy (26), Peter Ferrelli (9 years), Raymond Milan, (2 years), Josephine Arata (2 years), and a three year old DiPaolo girl. 

The first day of October brought some promise to the situation in Milford.  The emergency hospital at the YMCA was formally opened with Mrs. Margaret Bowen as the “nurse in chief” and Fred Condry, who had been a local hotel chef for several years as the dietitian.  The concern was to use this new facility to provide relief for those families who were caring for several family members who were ill.  The seriousness of this situation was evident by the statistics, there were now 48 deaths in Milford, over the weekend three had occurred in Hopedale so that the local community now had now suffered the loss of more than 50 lives.  Medical professionals in the area, doctors, nurses and pharmacists identified that there were hundreds of active cases in the greater Milford area.  Dr. Wolfram was in charge of the emergency hospital since Secretary F. H. Lally “was still under the weather and unable to take charge of the hospital.”  The hospital had admitted its first patient that morning.

And yet, there was still resistance and even open hostility to those trying to provide care and cure for the ill.  The Milford Daily News of October 2, 1918, reported that, “The nurses met with some objection and distrust from the householders whom they are truing to benefit.  One nurse reported that her entrance to attend to a very sick patient was met with surly refusal and open threat.”  The article went on to identify, “The plucky girl went in just the same, and gave relief to the patient in her charge.” 

This article was first published in the bulletin of January 31 and February 7, 2021.

But the numbers continued to climb, many from the same family.  The article identified that most of the cases were located in the Plains and Prospect Heights.  It identified another victim was Catherine Murphy, wife of Leo, who was 25 years old and lived on Free Street. Her brother Thomas Hynes was also a victim of the Grip and it was believed that Catherine became infected at his funeral.  She had been confined to her mother’s house since the funeral since both of them were ill.  The Milford Daily News of October 3^rd carried the sad story of a situation that a local funeral director was introduced to the previous evening.  It detailed the visit of James B. Edwards of Edwards Funeral Home who had been called “to care for a tiny infant at a Central Street tenement.  When he went there he found such a condition that he was unable to go in at first.  He entered a few moments later and found the mother of the newly born child in bed ill with influenza and with her, two other victims.  There was no window open and other conditions were extremely unsanitary.  In an adjoining room were two others ill.  He found the body of the child in a closet in which there was also food for the family.”  The article ended by explaining that the mother had been admitted to the local emergency hospital. 

This seemingly overwhelming situation was being addressed head on by local authorities who recognized the gravity of the town’s health and the need to respond to both heal and protect its citizens.  The evening of October 2^nd, there had been a joint meeting of the board of health and the executive committee of the public safety committee and was held in the office of Judge J. C. Lynch.  From that meeting, the following appeal was made to the community at large to provide for the full and efficient operation of the local emergency hospital.  First, there was a request for volunteers who would provide the use of their vehicles, twice a day, to carry doctors and nurse to any part of town where their services were required. Second to appeal to the women and young girls of the town to assist the nurses at the emergency hospital, for which they would be compensated.  It was determined that Dr. Lally as physician for the board of health would be in charge of the hospital with Dr. William Wolfram as the admitting physician and Dr. G. C. Nankel as emergency physician.  Patients would be admitted between the hours of 9 am and 2 pm, and needed to contact Dr. Lally or Dr. Wolfram at the hospital.  Emergency cases would be accepted according to necessity, and no visitors would be allowed, except as authorized by the physicians.

By October 4^th, several patients had been moved to the emergency hospital and its admissions totaled 13, eleven adults and two babies.  Now there were four nurses to assist the doctors, one of them was Mrs. John Naughton whose husband was a patient there.  The death toll in Milford had now reached 58 (in three weeks time).  Among them was David Costello, aged 25 years, who was the first death recorded at the emergency hospital, who had been well known and admired, among his survivors was a brother serving in the military in France in what would be the final weeks of World War I.  Two of the deaths were residents at 7 Prospect Heights, Culmentina Mendes (aged 23) and Guilosia Chares (aged 24).  A double funeral was held that afternoon for both women and their interment occurred in Saint Mary’s Cemetery.  By October 7^th, Antonio DaSilva (aged 31 years) who also lived at 7 Prospect Heights (and was survived by a wife and two children) was another casualty as the death toll numbered 68 in Milford.  Both a nurse and doctor at the emergency hospital had taken ill and been transferred to Deaconess Hospital in Boston.  Three new patients had been admitted to the emergency hospital which now housed 24 patients.  An appeal for funds to subsidize the hospital had already netted $2,990.

The actions of the Board of Health in Worcester drew the attention of the editorial staff at the Milford Daily News who detailed their directives in an article on October 8, 1918.  The Worcester Board banned bargain sales, “the use of more than four vehicles for a funeral cortege and the furnishing of chairs by Worcester undertakes and funerals.”  They “ordered all saloons, bars in hotels, soda fountains, bowling alleys, billiard halls, auction rooms and slot machines closed” until further notice.  Interestingly, in a twist that would be duplicated in bans and allowances in the pandemic of 2020, “wholesale liquor stores are allowed to continue business.”  The Board recommended that people walk to and from their homes as much as possible to limit any congestion on the railway cars “as another step to prevent the spread of influenza.”  
One of our parishioners today tells the story told by her mother who lived on Bear Hill during the Grip of 1918.  They would walk to school each day and as they did they would notice either going or coming from school that sometimes there would be a black wreath hanging on the door of a house.  Even as children, they knew that it was a sad sign, it meant that someone in the house had died.  It may have also been a gentle way of warning visitors to take precautions and be careful entering since the virus had been present among those who lived there.  And whether one entered or not, one knew that sadness had visited that house.

This article was first published in the bulletin of February 14 & 21, 2021.

On October 9^th, 1918, The Milford Daily News published a similar and more detailed set of regulations from the Milford Board of Health compared to those from Worcester published earlier: 

1. All public and private schools within the limits of the town are hereby ordered closed.  (This would have obviously included both Saint Mary’s Grammar School and the Academy).
   No person shall conduct or open to the public any theatre, moving picture house, dance hall or any public entertainment, and meetings of all lodges and clubs are hereby forbidden.
2. All public services in churches and chapels are hereby forbidden. 
3. All bar rooms, saloons, ice cream parlors, soda fountains and public drinking places are hereby ordered closed, and no person shall sell or dispense drink or ice cream in any bar room, saloon, store or other public drinking place.
4. All pool rooms and bowling alleys are hereby ordered closed, and no person shall conduct or open to the public any pool room or bowling alley.
5. All public funerals are hereby forbidden.
6. All specially advertised public sales of goods are hereby forbidden.
7. All public indoor meetings, except with the written permission of the board, are hereby forbidden.

Lost in the shadows of history, these regulations would be eerily similar to those imposed by government leaders a century later when faced with the global scourge of the coronavirus the state would impose restrictions of banning public gatherings, limiting private social events, closing schools, churches, places of entertainment, restaurants and stores in an unparalleled experience to those living in the 21^st century.  To their ancestors of a century before, it would have been déjà vu.  With one difference:  Below the regulations from the Milford Board of Health on October 9^th, was the desire of the Board to call attention to its regulation, in the Acts of 1908, Chapter 150, “forbidding spitting on walks and in public places, and to its intention to require strict compliance with the same.”

At the same time, the October 9^th edition of The Milford Daily News carried the message of improvements.  There had only been three new deaths in the area reaching a new total of 80.  There were fewer cases being reported and the local pharmacists felt that the surge was ebbing by the number of prescriptions they were filling.  A couple of recent days of warmer temperatures and sunshine were also credited with improving the health of the community.  Credit was given to the board of health and the public safety committee and their regulations and measures.  Some speculated that the drop in the need to fill prescriptions came from other household members taking advantage of medicines already in a house.  Nevertheless, the overall number of reported cases was down, and that was encouraging news after less than a month of hardship that had seen 80 deaths since its start on September 16^th , which was just over three weeks time, unimaginable the hardship it must have been on a small town of 17,000.

 However, a troubling mention in one of the articles underscored the breadth of the toll that this epidemic had taken on the citizens of Milford.  In the October 8^th edition of the Milford Daily News, “Undertaker Antonio DePasquale late yesterday started men, employed by the Town Highway department, and any others he could secure, to dig graves for the victims who have died of this disease in the last few days, and long ditches like trenches were dug, the caskets holding the bodies being placed therein, one after the other.”  The following day, another article identified that this work by “members of the highway department, who aided in grave digging that bodies in the cemetery tomb might be interred, did so at the suggestion of the board of health and the public safety committee, to relieve a serious situation.”

Since the majority of the victims of the influenza in Milford were buried in Saint Mary’s Cemetery, 91 of a total of 105 deaths, one can surmise that these bodies were those in the cemetery tomb at Saint Mary’s.  Even today the façade of this tomb is visible as it is carved in the hill directly behind the Irish Round Tower.  Research by the professors and students from Worcester for their book on the The Grip could only identify 6 graves in a random search of 25 deaths among the records of interments at Saint Mary’s Cemetery.  It would seem that the constant demand to bury these dead, one day there was a total of 11 deaths, left gaps in the cemetery’s record keeping, and the notion of a mass grave in our parish cemetery seems to be plausible and the only explanation for this lack of detail to be found missing a century later.

There is no indicaton in the parish records of the kind of grave site that is mentioned in The Milford Daily News on October 8, 1918.  This is a view of an area in the Old Saint Mary’s Cemetery off of Hamilton Avenue that is believed to be the area mentioned.  There is no identification on the cemetery maps that are part of office records of who is buried here.  Whoever knew the location, for reasons that are not explained, took that information to their own grave.

This article was first published in the bulletin of February 28, 2021.

On October 10^th, a headline carried the hopeful prospect of Fr. Dunphy that the worst of the influenza could be over.  Fr. James Dunphy, curate at Saint Mary’s Parish “is confident from his many visits the bedside of serious and dangerous cases of influenza” that there is an abatement of the grip epidemic.  In the same edition, the new death toll of 84 is published, an encouraging drop from the previous daily increase seen in the Milford area.  The next day, an article had the headline, “Milford has grip beaten, is prospect.”  Both doctors and undertakers were describing a diminished need for their services.  At the same time, the Board of Health was reminding citizens to “the needs of family care and sanitation” that “personal care as to exposure to contagion and as to preventative sanitation can the plague be exterminated.”  There was encouraging news from the emergency hospital where “the situation is looking better, that the cases there are doing well, and there is also a good response by citizens.” There were 21 patients at the emergency hospital but the night had passed without a new death.  It also mentioned that there was a quantity of Dr. O’Leary’s Vaccine which he would administer freely at the hospital to anyone who would apply, this latest preventative required three daily consecutive treatments.  Still, the editors felt, “On the whole the outlook is encouraging.”

This positive outlook was echoed in an article in The Milford Daily News on October 14, 1918, that offered a summary of the efforts of the emergency hospital. As of that date, there had been 37 cases of the grip that had been admitted to the hospital, with 18 having been released with improved health and out of the danger of death.  At that time, there were 10 active cases still under treatment who were making good progress toward health.  Of the nine who died in the hospital, the majority were in poor health by the time they were admitted.  In summary, Dr. Wolfram was quoted as saying, “the situation is clearing up nicely, and apparently the local crisis is well past.”

 Three days later the newspaper would publish the decision of the board of health to close the request for funds for the emergency hospital.  By that date, a total of $3,612 had been donated, of that only $215 was unpaid.  It was felt that these funds would adequately cover the expenses of the hospital and the needs of its patients.  In the same edition, another article detailed the visit of Capt. A. Linson, an official of the US Public Health Service who had visited the Milford hospital on official business.  He met with Dr. Wolfram, announcing that his success in handling the influenza in Milford would mean his transfer to another district suffering the distress of the grip.  He praised the local community for its response, especially at the height of the epidemic when it was able to check a phenomenal death rate.  “He was especially pleased with the hospital, with the work and business directness of the Milford committees, and with the labors of Dr. Wolfram and the nurses on duty.”  This success would mean that Dr. Wolfram would be moved to another area of greater need, and mentioned Philadelphia as a potential assignment, adding that many of the nurses would be reassigned with the doctor also.

With the worst of the influenza now behind Milford, the next day a special meeting took place again in the office of Judge Lynch.  The Public Safety committee agreed to lift the ban on public gatherings, to allow religious services on Sunday, “with the suggestion, however, that they be made brief.”  Theatres would open the following Monday with the restriction that no one under 18 would be admitted.  Opening that same Monday would be ice cream parlors, saloons, bowling alleys and other places of entertainment.  Since the influenza seemed to have a particular effect on children, it was agreed to wait to open schools, as was the reasoning to limit those under 18 in theatres.

This article was first published in the bulletin of March 7, 2021.

On October 19^th, the Milford Daily News carried a positive review of the previous month’s events and the town’s handling of this unprecedented crisis in its history:

“With Milford released from the epidemic precautions, and the glow of satisfaction over the great success of the Liberty Loan campaign, the town now can devote itself whole heartedly to “business as usual,” with sports, dances, movie theatres, purchases of the many bargains in the exceptionally well filled stores, and the performance of its whole duty to the lads in fighting gear.  There is much evidence that Milford, when a big opportunity of public service is adequately presented, always rises fully to the occasion.  It always has been so.  For that reason it will continue to be so.”  The great success of the town, her leaders, businesses and townspeople was an example of the capability of these parties to collaborate together for the good of the town and her future.  The article ended by noting, “United Milford is a vivid inspiration for any kind of success.”

On Friday, November 1^st, the school board met to review the influenza situation and determine the future calendar for the schools.  Over the coming they instructed the janitors to open the windows and doors of all the schools to provide as much fresh air and sunlight to enter the buildings as possible.  It was explained that all of the facilities had already been fumigated.  Teachers had been instructed individually on precautions for those children coming from homes where there had been recent cases of illness.  In addition, they stipulated the need for a written note from the family doctor, endorsed by the secretary of the Board of Health to ascertain the absence of contagion in each case.  It recognized that teachers were grateful to be able to resume their teaching duties and were anxious on the habits of their students whose learning had been unexpectedly interrupted by the epidemic.  With all of that in place, the schools would reopen the following Monday, November 4^th.  This difficulty would be faced by teachers and students a century later in the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 to 2021.  Schools would close unexpectedly and remain close longer than they did in 1918.  This time there would be the benefit of technology and the internet to allow for provisions for on line learning, virtual classrooms and in September of 2020, various models from home schooling and in person learning to virtual classrooms and every combination in between as various models of what was labeled hybrid learning.  The concerns of the teachers in 1918 would be echoed by their professional descendants in the early 21^st century as well.

A week later, on November 11^th, the original armistice day for the end of what would be later named as World War I, notice was given that regular Masses would resume during the week at Saint Mary’s Church.  Confessions would resume the following Saturday “and thereafter.”  The parish schools had opened that morning, a week later than their public counterparts.  Peace had come to the world with the signing of the armistice for the global conflict that enveloped the nations of Europe and sent a scourge across the ocean in the soldiers that returned from the battlefield to create a different war on the health of innocent citizens in the United States of America.  Milford would know an intensity of this influenza and an impact more significant than any other town of comparable size in Massachusetts.  It would also be home to the only known mass grave in the state. There was still illness, and more deaths would come, but no where near in proportion to those previously.  In fact, in the remaining weeks there were would be only a third of the deaths that had occurred in town for the first three weeks of the epidemic.  Life in Milford was returning to normal, whatever that might mean, but for many, it was understood that ‘business was as usual.’