Saturday night sauna visits with Great-Uncle Krigsholm and the Reed and Koivisto grandparents included tales of past epidemics that killed family members or neighbors.

Average life expectancy in 1918 wasn’t much past age 50. People who died in their 70s or 80s were few and far between — 50 was old age and 80 was ancient.

I wrote for the Barnum Herald while I was in high school in Barnum and at the University of Minnesota Duluth. I scoured back issues and wrote a weekly column entitled “The Good Old Days.” It noted events and interesting tidbits from the old newspapers.

My father, Ar...