Geneva Faces a Virus and Other Disruptions By Dani (Fitzgerald ‘14) Brown
While the current COVID-19 pandemic feels
daunting and unlike anything our nation has previously seen, our not-so distant past reveals several major disruptions to Geneva College, including an even deadlier pandemic: the Spanish Influenza of 1918. Over one hundred years ago, the world was fighting a virus that infected about 500 million people — approximately one-third of the world’s population. The 1918 flu was notorious for its high mortality rate in healthy people, particularly those between the ages of 20 to 40. Geneva College, like many institutions, felt the weight of the infection. That academic year of 1918-1919, Geneva saw its largest enrollment to date, with 542 students. The
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GENEVA MAGAZINE
Cabinet student newspaper was not published that year, and the college was surprised in September to be hosting 95 members of the Student Army Training Corps, which set up barracks on the third floor of Old Main in the literary society rooms, causing the societies to cease operations for a time. The college halted classes for two weeks on October 11, 1918, after 50 Geneva students suffered from the virus. Of those students, all recovered except one. Samuel A. Steele, then 25, was the captain of Geneva’s football team. He became sick with the flu and eventually died from pneumonia following that infection. Steele was championed as “not only a genial companion, but a sterling Christian,” according to The Christian Nation’s write up. Steele’s parents were also
