Old Missoula

Mrs. S. A. Yoder

Having volunteered her services through the Montana State Nurses’ association in response to a call for help at the university and at Fort Missoula, Mrs. Solomon Yoder of Red Lodge became herself a victim of the influenza epidemic. Her death occurred at the Northern Pacific railway hospital yesterday afternoon at 3 o’clock.

Mrs. Yoder was before her marriage Miss Hazel Leonard, a trained nurse residing at Great Falls. Her mother, Mrs. Anna Leonard, and her sister, Miss Gertrude Leonard, had left Great Falls only a month ago to make a home in Seattle. They were summoned to Missoula to be with Mrs. Yoder during her illness. Mr. Yoder is an accountant located a Red Lodge and he was with his wife in Missoula until she became convalescent and he was called to look after business matters. An attack of heart trouble caused the relapse which proved fatal to Mrs. Yoder. The husband arrived in Missoula last night, but too late to hear his wife’s voice once more.

It was not decided last evening whether the remains would be taken to Great Falls or to Red Lodge for interment.

The above obituary appeared in The Daily Missoulian on November 9, 1918.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/348682066

This brief obituary, along with a short mention of Mrs. Yoder at a Memorial service held at the University of Montana the following year, was almost the only information available about Mrs. Yoder, until she was researched at length by Michael Webster and documented in his Master’s Thesis in 2010. More information about this courageous lady can be found at the following link:

https://www.umt.edu/memorialrow/honored/influenza/nurses/Yoder.php