Monuments to Volunteer Workers in Influenza Epidemic and World War, May 18, 1922

Memorial exercises Sunday afternoon at the unveiling of the monument to Misses Eliza Riddick and Lucy Bragg Page, young women who died as volunteer workers in the influenza epidemic which took a toll of 248 lives in Raleigh, attracted a great crowd which participated as well as the weather would permit. The monument to these fine young women took the form of a fountain which will stand on the courthouse square. The money was raged largely by personal subscription.

The memorial is a striking piece of local work and will adorn the lawn of the courthouse. Josephus Daniels, Dr. Delia Dixon Carroll and Dr. W.L. Poteat made the principal speeches. Christ Church choir sang the anthem and students and soldiers from the A. and E. College had their share in the exercises. It was while she was working as stenographer at the college that Miss Riddick became a volunteer nurse for the boys dying about her uncle’s institution and her own, and in that work, she lost her life. And no woman living in Raleigh had a more radiant one. In telling how volunteer nurses met the demands for service, Mr. Daniels narrated the conversion of the city high school into a temporary hospital, with more than 300 nurses. In one day, 19 citizens fell victims to influenza. Chas. M. Heck speaking for State College, said that two of e very three students were stricken, yet the nursing held the deaths to 19. The city lost 235, the county 540, and the state 13,000, nearly 10 times as many deceased victims as the great war claimed. The program carried the names of all these volunteers and those who served the college.

With the completion of the unveiling of the memorial fountain to the volunteer nurses who rendered such noble service during the influenza epidemic in Raleigh, it has been suggested that a similar memorial be erected on the courthouse square to the two score Wake County men who made the supreme sacrifice during the world war. The movement got under way in a definite way and pa=lans for an organization to secure funds will e worked out this week. It is proposed to make this a popular subscription to which every person in the county will e asked to contribute. It is believed that practically every man and woman in the county will e willing to give as much as a dollar to build a memorial for th men who gave their lives to their country.

The memorial to the nurses has been placed on one side of the courthouse square, and another on the other side would make a fitting complement to it as well as showing in concrete way the gratitude that the living feel toward the dead who gave their all. It is proposed to inscribe thereon in alphabetical order the names of all who died for their country, two tablets being placed on the fountain, one for the white soldiers and the other for the colored soldiers. Those having the movement at heart have suggested Major Baxter Durham, state auditor as treasurer for the fund. It is not expected that any “drive” will be put on, as it is desired that this be a purely voluntary offering.

From The Union Herald, Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, May 18, 1922. Typed list of the names of Wake County volunteer nurses from Wake County Spanish Flu Volunteer Nurses List | NC DNCR (ncdcr.gov)