Although doctors around the world were beginning to hope that the disastrous flu epidemic of 1918 might be waning, at the end of October, Dr. William M. Lynch, the superintendent of Farview State Hospital for the Criminal Insane in Canaan Township, was putting out a call for help. Not only had guards, workers and more than 100 inmates fallen ill, one of the sickest was his first assistant superintendent, Dr. George G. Gill.

By November 1, Dr. Gill was dictating his will to Dr. Lynch, who wrote the simple document on a blank piece of hospital stationery. The 35-year-old Dr. Gill, a native of Sunbury, PA, had settled his little family in Waymart, near the hospital, and his entire estate was left to his wife Nettie and daughter Marion. He died on November 4, the certificate signed by Dr. Lynch. Fifty-eight deaths at Farview were attributed to influenza in the October-November period, and although conditions at Farview contributed to the high death rate, this particular flu was deadlier than any in history. The average life expectancy in the United States dropped from 51 in 1917 to 39 in 1918 and back to 51 by 1919.

From the collection of the Wayne County Historical Society, 810 Main St., Honesdale, PA. The museum, research library and museum shop are open Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a. m. to 4 p. m.