Auntie Jen's Family Trees: Grace Rickards died of Sleeping Sickness??

You never know what you are going to find when you start researching. It is so exciting though to be able to add another piece of a puzzle to your family that you didn't have before. I logged into my Ancestry account a couple days ago to find a new hint for Ruth Rickards, my husband's great Aunt. It was a newspaper clipping from Newspapers.com. How intriguing! In order for me to view the article though, I had to have a subscription to the site. Thank goodness I can have access through the St. Louis County Library website.
The article turned out to be an obituary for Great Grandma Grace Rickards, Ruth's mother. Unbelievable! I didn't have a copy of that. She died in Centralia, Illinois and the newspaper that ran the obituary was located in Decatur, Illinois. No wonder I hadn't found it. I would not have thought to look there. Wonderful! So let's glean it for information.

Decatur Herald, Decatur, Illinois

2 Sep 1925 -- Page 15

Sleeping Sickness? What is that? Obviously not a medical term, but a nickname. Time for a Google search of "Sleeping Sickness". The first thing that popped up was an African Sleeping Sickness. Yeah, doubt that's what it is. So I modified the search terms to include "1925". Boy was I in for a surprise.
Sleeping Sickness or "sleepy" sickness was actually a disease called Encephalitis Lethargica. "A disease of unknown cause that occurred worldwide in the 1920s affecting millions of people, especially in Europe. There was paralysis of the eye muscles and a striking tendency to sleepiness. A high proportion of those who survived developed Parkinsonism within months or years. It was also known as ‘sleeping sickness’ or ‘von Economo's disease’." Medical Dictionary
Oh, poor Grandma Grace! What a horrible way to die. To learn more about this particular disease, I looked up more articles on Newspapers.com. The first article was published the same year Grandma Grace passed away. It mentions J.P. Morgan's wife who apparently passed away from this same disease. The other two were published in the late thirties by a doctor hoping to explain the disease to the readers.

Alton Evening Telegraph, Alton, Illinois

17 Aug 1925 -- Page 4

The Edwardsville Intelligencer, Edwardsville, Illinois

21 Oct 1937 -- Page 4

The Edwardsville Intelligencer, Edwardsville, Illinois

20 Oct 1937 -- Page 4

Thanks to this doctor, I was able to learn more about this disease and what Grandma Grace apparently went through. But this isn't over yet. I still have more places to research. First and foremost, I have to get a copy of Grace's death certificate from the Illinois State Archives in Springfield, Illinois. This will give more details about her death, the official cause of it and the attending physician. That will then help me try to track down any journals, diaries, or notes the doctor may have left behind about his life and treatment of his patients. That information may then be available in Centralia, Illinois where Grace was treated and eventually died.
One other interesting piece of information I learned while researching this disease really blew me away. Have you ever heard of the movie Awakenings starring Robert De Niro and Robin Williams? It came out in 1990 and was nominated for three Academy Awards. Great movie. Turns out, the main character played by Robert De Niro, suffered from this exact disease! While the main focus of the movie takes place after the epidemic is over, it addresses the lasting effects this disease had on the patients. So if you have not seen this movie, I absolutely recommend it. Have tissues ready.
Some of you may be thinking, "What's the point of continuing to research more about this subject? You already know what she died from. Isn't that enough?" My answer to that is a resounding, "NO!" The purpose of this journey is to bring our ancestors' stories to life! It's not enough just to learn about when they were born, married, lived, and died. It's about what they went through. Their hobbies. Their experiences. Why? Because those things have shaped the lives of ancestors and then, in turn, have shaped us. What they went through, directly impacts our lives.
Grace was only 52 when she passed away. That is still quite young! Her children really must have felt the effects of this loss especially the youngest. Ruth was only 29, Joseph (Mark's Grandpa) was only 27, Franklin was only 22, and Scott was only 10. Can you imagine losing your mother when you were 10? If Grace had not passed away when she did, the lives of her children would have been different. They would have possibly led different lives. We don't know for sure, but we do know that when we don't have our mother around, we are usually completely and utterly lost and destroyed.
So I want to know more details about their life. I want to know their stories. Like I said, their experiences affect our lives. So understanding their trials and tribulations lend understanding to me why they thought, said, or acted the way they did in their life. Tragedies have a way of shaping our future. So I tell you, take the time to learn about their lives.
I will end this post with some photos I was blessed to receive. The first one is from Mark's mom and dad. It is a picture of Grace from about 1906. Beautiful photo. The second picture was given to me by Bob Richardson, a cousin down the Rickards' line. A copy of this photo was also in the possession of Geoff Louis, another cousin through the Rickards' line. With their help, we've been able to identify all the family in this photo. This photo was taken in 1922, just 3 short years before Grace passed away. So this photo is definitely a treasure. Not only does it have Grace(she is in the back, three in from the right), but it also has her mother-in-law, Sarah Rickards (center, sitting), who also lived with the family until her death in 1934. She must have become like a second mom to the kids. I am told Franklin had wonderful memories of Sarah and spoke very highly of her.