In the same edition of the newspaper in which his obituary was listed, there were 18 funerals announced.

Ogden, Utah.

In January 1918, my granduncle John Edward Shipley was placed as Class One by the county exemption draft board.

However, he was a field man for a packing company which was working with the Farm Bureau in Provo, Utah which involved canning food.  I do not know for certain, but feel that is why he was not called up for service immediately, because of his responsibilities.

He became engaged to a young woman in Provo, according to family lore.

The young lady’s mother, also from Provo, and with whom the fiancé was living – died of Influenza on October 23, 1918.  The young woman (fiancé) died October 26, 1918, and was buried the same day with her mother.  My Granduncle, John Edward Shipley, died October 29, 1918 all in Provo, Utah- six days after his fiancé.

His death certificate lists cause of death as Bronchial pneumonia following influenza.  The obituary states “John Shipley, for ten months field man of the Goddard canning plant at Provo, died at Provo yesterday afternoon at the age of 30 years.”

In the same edition of the newspaper in which his obituary was listed, there were 18 funerals announced that day with his being one.

I checked the obituaries, as well as death certificates of the eighteen.  Thirteen died of lobar pneumonia secondary to Spanish Influenza; plus one had a husband who died within three days of her, with the same diagnosis, but his obituary was not listed on this day. Of the thirteen, one was a young nurse, another was a young soldier who had been at his assigned fort. The newspaper was in Ogden, Utah – not Provo, Utah, where my granduncle died. Besides the death certificates I checked – the newspaper was:

The Ogden Standard  (Ogden, Utah)  30 October 1918  Wednesday  page 6

Contributed by Hope Shipley Welch, Grand Niece of John Edward Shipley.