Edna Louthan (1882 - 1978)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Edna's lifetime.

In 1882, in the year that Edna Louthan was born, on April 3rd, 34 year old outlaw Jesse James was shot in the back of the head by trusted friend and partner Robert Ford. Suspected of colluding with the Governor of Missouri, brothers Robert and Charley Ford were arrested, indicted, plead guilty, sentenced to be hung - then pardoned by the Governor. All in one day.

In 1901, when she was 19 years old, shortly after beginning his second term, President McKinley was assassinated by the self proclaimed anarchist Leon Czolgosz. The last President to have served in the Civil War - he began as a private and ended the war as a brevet major - McKinley was a Republican. First elected in 1896, he was re-elected in 1900. Six months after the swearing in, McKinley was shot - and died of the gangrene that set in as a result.

In 1946, when she was 64 years old, pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Spock's book "The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care" was published. It sold half a million copies in the first six months. Aside from the Bible, it became the best selling book of the 20th century. A generation of Baby Boomers were raised by the advice of Dr. Spock.

In 1968, when she was 86 years old, on January 31st, the North Vietnamese launched the Tet Offensive, a turning point in the Vietnam War. 70,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces swarmed into South Vietnam. The South Vietnamese and US troops held off the offensive but it was such fierce fighting that the U.S. public began to turn against the war.

In 1978, in the year of Edna Louthan's passing, on July 25th, Louise Brown, the first "test-tube baby", was born at Oldham Hospital in London. Louise was conceived through IVF (in vitro fertilization), a controversial and experimental procedure at the time.