The Widow's Secret, Last Civil War Widow Dies in 2020-- Part 2: Helen Jackson

Helen Jackson was born on August 3, 1919, less than a year after the end of World War I and in the middle of another pandemic in the United States, the Spanish Flu.  So, she had the unenviable opportunity to live through two pandemics.

She grew up in the really small town of Niangua, Missouri,  (population 275), a railroad and farming town about 25 miles northeast of Springfield.  Hardworking and humble, she was the seventh of ten children.  In the late 1920s, Route 66, the legendary "Mother Road," pumped a little energy into the sleepy town of Niangua, known mainly for  its dairy and cattle farms.

In March, 1936, a tornado ravaged the area, killing four.  But the pace of life was typically slow in the blink-and-you'll-miss-it place.

Missouri's U.S. Senator Roy Blunt was born in Niangua.

--Old Secesh