Mary Jane, the second of the Killion girls, died 100 years ago today....
Mary Jane Newton (nee Killion) died at her home, 574 Crown Street Surry Hills, six weeks after the death of her older sister, Rose Porter. Mary Jane was 59. Her cause of death is also shown as "pneumonic influenza" which she had for 6 days... another victim of the Spanish Flu Pandemic. Mary Jane is buried at the Church of England Cemetery, Waverley. During the week, I caught up with Sue, Mary Jane's great grand-daughter. We chatted about what a sad time it was for our family. Sue's family still have Mary Jane's prayer book. I'd not realised that it was Sue's father, Francis Percival Thomas (Frank) Newton, who was the informant on Mary Jane's death certificate. After the breakdown of his parents' marriage, Frank lived with his grandparents. He was 5 weeks short of his fifteenth birthday at the time of his grandmother's death. Frank never talked with his children about this period of his life. We're s...