A Family Tragedy in Walnut Grove
After failing to recover from a major surgery, a young mother leaves behind five children and a grieving husband in the Walla Walla community.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Unable to stand the shock of an operation for tumors, performed at St. Mary's hospital last Wednesday, Mrs. Ida McKinney, wife of George McKinney, a photographer in East Main street, died at the hospital this morning. Mrs. McKinney was aged 35 years and leaves her husband and five children, two sons and three daughters. The funeral will take place from the family residence in Walnut Grove addition tomorrow afternoon at 4 o'clock. Rev. Morris, Christian church evangelist, officiating. Interment will be in the city cemetery. Mrs. McKinney was born near Columbus, Indiana, and was married to Mr. McKinney in Nebraska in 1885. She came to Walla Walla with her husband in 1894.
“Mrs. McKinney was aged 35 years and leaves her husband and five children, two sons and three daughters.”
Medical outcomes in 1903 were often precarious, especially for surgeries involving anesthesia and lack of modern antibiotics. This notice captures the profound disruption such a loss caused for working-class families like the McKinneys, who lived in the then-developing residential fringes of the city.
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