health #52ancestors2024

Not too long ago COVID took hold of the world, bringing about lockdowns, masks,
and a run on toilet paper. Many comparisons were made with the Great Flu of 1918,
better known by the misnormer, Spanish Flu. It is estimated that 50 million people
were killed by this flu that occurred between February 1918 and April 1920. This was more
than the number of soldiers killed in World War I.

Lois Waltz Metz Vos, Grandpa Glen Vos' mother, was affected by the 1918 flu when her first
husband, Emin Metz, suddenly became ill while at training camp during World War I.

Note that Emin's name is wrong in this caption. 

Emin Leroy Metz, the son of John and Carrie Schafer Metz, was born December 4, 1891 in Howard
County, Indiana. He was attending the Illinois Holiness College in Olivet, Illinois, preparing for the
ministry when World War I began. Standing at medium height and build, with gray eyes, dark brown hair, and a crooked thumb, he claimed exemption from serving in the war as it was against his religious beliefs. This claim was rejected by the government and a year later he enlisted in the service on June 26, 1918. Soon after, in July 1918, he married twenty-year-old Lois, who lived in the nearby town of Georgetown where her father, Rev. J.W. Waltz was the minister of the Church of the Nazarene. Lois' brother Olin attended Illinois Holiness College at the same time as Emin so perhaps that is how Lois and Emin met. Emin was sent to Camp Jackson in South Carolina where he was assigned to Company C, 12th Field Artillery Replacement Depot. He was quickly promoted to Sergeant. Yet, less than four months later, he died of pneumonia after a week of being afflicted on October 4, 1918. Lois rode on the train back with her husband's body to bring him home to be buried at Kokomo Zion United Methodist Church Cemetery in Howard County, Indiana. “Word reached John and Mrs. Metz, by way of telegraph, Monday, that their son, Emin, who was in training camp in South Carolina, died Monday. The body accompanied by his wife will reach the Metz home Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. This home is saddened by the untimely call of their boy, as he was a promising young man of much talent. The last six years he was in Georgetown, Ills., where he attended school, going through college. He graduated last spring with high honors and was married to a young lady of that town in July. They came to his parent’s home immediately and while here he was called in the draft to be at Illinois. He left and started for a soldier’s life at the town where he registered, his wife going to some hospital to learn to be a nurse. News was that he was getting along fine in camp and intending to be a minister of the Gospel when Uncle Sam was through with him. The news of this death comes to the family and friends as a complete shock. No funeral arrangements have yet been made." (Kokomo Daily Tribune, Kokomo, Indiana, October 17, 1918)

"Emmet [sic] Metz died at a training camp in South Carolina. The news of his death made his mother very ill." (Kokomo Tribune, Kokomo, Indiana, October 18, 1918).

His college yearbook, Olivet University the "Aurora" paid tribute to Emin in their 1919 edition, along with two other classmates who died serving their country. 

"The Aurora", volume 6, Olivet University, 1919

Sometime before/after Emin's death, Lois found a role as a nurse's aid.

nurses and patients (is that Lois on the right?) Battle Creek, 1918

"My sweet nurse" inscriped in cramped handwriting. Believed to be Lois Waltz, 1918, Battle Creek

At some point, Lois went to Battle Creek, Michigan to serve as a nurse's aid. Not much is known about this experience and what inspired Lois to take on this role. Later widow Lois visited friends in Pella, Iowa (perhaps from school? perhaps from her time as a nurse?) and met a widower seventeen years her senior, James W. Vos. James’ first wife, Anna, passed on April 5, 1918, due to pregnancy complications. James and Lois married on February 8, 1921. Perhaps they found common ground both experiencing the sudden loss of their first spouse.

The Booster Press (Pella, Iowa), Wednesday, February 16, 1921, front page

But this is not where Emin's role ended. The money saved from Emin’s World War I pension was used to build the home in which James and Lois would raise their sons, Jim, Gene, and Glen, just north of Pella, Iowa. James' father, William, passed in Sept. 1935 and James sold the farm and packed his family up in March 1936 to move to Oskaloosa. (As cousin Blaine remarked, only the fallen Dutch move to Oskaloosa). The sell of the farm was a result of the combination of the Great Depression and the family feud between James and his siblings and their families. I wonder if Lois experienced the loss of Emin all over again when she left the farm and the house behind.

The house still stands today.

Jim, Gene, James, Glen, and Lois in front of their home north of Pella. This house was built with the pension money from Emin's World War I service. Photo taken roughly early 1930s.