Wanamaker Estate’s Gardener and his Daughter lost to the flu.

Elkin’s Park, PA

My grandmother, Caterina Carnavale, lived through the devastating losses of her 28-year-old husband, Valentino Palo (died Oct 12, 1918) and their 2-year-old daughter, Michelina (died Oct 22, 1918). They are buried in the old section of Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Philadelphia PA.

At the time of their deaths, my grandmother had a 4-year-old daughter, Josephine- who survived the flu- and an unborn son. I did not see Valentino’s name under the list of the 751 flu victims who died in Philadelphia on Oct 12, 1918. I can only assume that his death occurred outside of the city limits, as he was a gardener on the John Wanamaker estate. It was with the Wanamaker’s help that Josephine survived because of medical attention and also with their help, that both Valentino and Micheline were buried in separate graves in Holy Sepulchre.

After all of this settled, our grandmother moved in with her sister and was taken care of until she remarried. Josephine always talked about the Wanamaker family and how good they were to our grandmother during this time. Caterina remarried in 1920 and had 4 more children in addition to her two children from Valentino Palo. So much time has passed and all of Caterina’s children except my mother are gone. Unfortunately, her memory is failing, but over the years she has shared a few things -apparently, Caterina rarely talked about that time, and instead, only looked forward. My mother recalled stories of how the bodies were put out onto the street for pickup, how my grandmother had to move back home to live with her parents until she remarried, and how the Wanamakers helped get them medical care and a burial -however, none of this can be confirmed

This past July, I was inspired to put together our family timelines concerning the Spanish Flu after reading the book, As Bright As Heaven, by Susan Meissner. Caterina’s descendants are now reading this book to get a better understanding of the horrors of this flu and to honor our brave grandmother whose resilience brought her through this tragedy. Thank you for allowing me to share this story.

Contributed by Linda Striano, granddaughter of Caterina Carnavale.