#1-SLEEPING SICKNESS DEATH REPORTED HERE

MRS. CLYDE E. LARSON, 24, OF ORUM DISTRICT SUCCUMBS MONDAY

FIRST ENCEPHALITIS FATALITY IN COUNTY

EPIDEMIC VICTIM WAS GRADUATE OF BLAIR HIGH, AND HAD ATTENDED WAYNE NORMAL; TAUGHT COUNTY SCHOOLS FOR FOUR YEARS

Stricken suddenly by encephalitis, better-known as “sleeping sickness”, Mrs. Clyde E. Larson, of Blair, aged 24, died in an Omaha hospital less than a week after she became ill. This is the first fatality reported in Washington county from the epidemic which has been prevalent in the Midwest recently.

Mrs. Larson, as Jenny Kathryn Gutschow, was born May 27, 1909, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Chris Gutschow of the Orum neighborhood. She was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran faith. After receiving her elementary education in the county schools, she attended Blair high school, and upon graduation from that institution enrolled at Wayne State Normal College for a year. At the end of her year of college, Mrs. Larson accepted a position as teacher in the county schools, where she taught for four years.

On May 24, 1930, she was married to Clyde E. Larson. To the couple were born two children, Duane, who died in 1931, and Clyde Frederick Larson, Jr., who survives. Besides the husband and son, the deceased leaves to mourn her departure here bereaved parents, Mr. and Mrs. Chris Gutschow; four sisters, Beaulah, Margaret, Erna and Catherine; three brothers, Fred, Wilfred, and Chris; her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. C.S. Nielsen, and many other relatives.

Last rites were conducted Wednesday afternoon at two o’clock at the Danish Lutheran church at Orum, with Rev. Peterson and Rev. Jersild in charge. Burial was in the Orum cemetery.

#2-Published in the Enterprise October 5, 1933

Mrs. Clyde Larson who with her husband resided near Orum passed away last Monday morning a victim of sleeping sickness. Mrs. Larson is a daughter of Mr. and mrs. Chris Gutschow residing north of Blair where she was born and reared.

The funeral services were held Wednesday afternoon at Orum and interment made in the Orum cemetery. She is survived by her husband and a nine months old son besides her immediate family.

~~~Obituary courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings and leaflets on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~

Find a Grave #197418709