Dr. Sindecuse’s Brush with Spanish Flu of 1918

U-M Dental Students have adjusted to pandemics before

One hundred and two years ago, in the fall of 1918, our museums’ future founding donor Gordon H Sindecuse was still a young man when he got sick with the disease called Spanish influenza, which would kill an estimated 15,000 in the state and 500 million worldwide. Sindecuse recovered, though the illness delayed his on-campus start at the University of Michigan’s dental school. 

In his own memoir, Sindecuse recalled growing up in Litchfield, Michigan where he decided to study dentistry after getting to know a dentist who lived along his childhood paper route. His family moved to Albion when he was in high school, and after his graduation his 1918 WWI draft registration card described him as “short” and “slender.” The registrar’s report also notes that he had “One leg 14 inches short. Wears artificial limb,” which may have kept him from being called for military service. 

Staying out of the war didn’t keep Gordon Sindecuse from experiencing disruption at home. Accepted to attend the University of Michigan’s dental school in the fall of 1918, Sindecuse then caught a case of Spanish flu and found his schooling postponed while he had to recuperate at his family’s home in Albion. 

Attendance delayed

A typed letter from his father to the dean, dated Oct 14, 1918,  explained that his son was ill. He asked if the university was open since “they have closed the college here [Albion College], so I thought it possible they had done the same there, and if so I would hold Gordon here until there were prospects of opening again.”

Gordon Sindecuse’s father wrote to Dean M. L. Ward on Oct. 14, 1918. On stationery from the New York Central Railroad Company, Fred R. Sindecuse sought closure information about the school and told the dean that Gordon was home with Spanish influenza

The dean, Dr. Marcus L Ward, wrote back to F. R. Sindecuse the next day: “I have to say that work has been quite irregular on account of the epidemic, but up to date no colleges [on U-M’s campus] have been closed.” Author and historian James Tobin’s new piece, “Two weeks in 1918,” he says the university stayed open throughout Michigan’s first wave of Spanish influenza, though school leaders encouraged sick students to stay home. 

Gordon Sindecuse would not attend the university in 1918 after all, but he was lucky to survive the nasty strain of flu. Symptoms included normal flu aches and pains plus bloody sputum and bleeding from the orifices of the face. There were also far fewer medicines to treat Spanish flu than we have today. Many patients had to be propped up to keep their airways clear and just hoped to be lucky and make it through.

Tobin gives some context about the illness, the school and Ann Arbor at the time: The virus spread around the world quickly, as people immigrated and troops moved around during World War I. Doctors at the time had never seen anything like this strain, which travelled so fast and manifested in multiple waves. It was young adults, people in their 20s, who had the highest death rates due to Spanish flu. At risk were students like Gordon Sindecuse and those in the local military barracks for the Student Army Training Corps (Armistice ending the war wasn’t declared until Nov. 11, 1918). 

Tobin says Ann Arbor was a much smaller town in 1918 but it was still a hub for young people, some of whom weren’t interested in staying home. He writes that a week into the pandemic, “Movie showings at Ann Arbor’s Majestic and the Orpheum are packed.” 

Getting better

Sindecuse recalled that he eventually began school in 1919 and graduated in 1921 - That sounds fast, but he transferred in to U-M with a year of credits from Albion College. He later moved to Kalamazoo in 1921, where he worked as a dentist throughout the Great Depression and afterward. Pursuing investments in addition to dental work allowed him to save up, to loan money to his patients, and eventually to help fund the Sindecuse Health Center at Western Michigan University and our museum. 

Our exhibits inside the School of Dentistry are currently closed to the public to prevent any potential spread of COVID-19, but visitors can still peruse our online exhibits. During this current health crisis, we’re pleased to share our namesake’s experiences with an illness that changed the world a century ago.   

The Sindecuse Museum of Dentistry’s founding donor, Gordon H. Sindecuse, is seen here in his graduation photo from the University of Michigan’s School of Dentistry. He was home sick with the deadly Spanish flu just three years prior.