Jean Ribbe (1909 - 2001)

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

In 1909, in the year that Jean Ribbe was born, explorer Robert Peary, a Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy, claimed to have been the first to have reached the geographic North Pole. His claim has been disputed for over a century - some say that he ended up 60 miles from the North Pole. Peary was the only navigator on his team and he didn't submit his records for public review.

In 1926, Jean was 17 years old when on October 31st, Harry Houdini died in Michigan. Houdini was the most famed magician of his time and perhaps of all time, especially for his acts involving escapes - from handcuffs, straitjackets, chains, ropes slung from skyscrapers, and more. He was president of the Society of American Magicians and stringently upheld professional ethics. He died of complications from a ruptured appendix. Although he had received a blow to the area a couple of days previously, the connection between the blow and his appendicitis is disputed.

In 1933, at the age of 24 years old, Jean was alive when on December 5th, the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified. The 21st Amendment said "The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed." Alcohol was legal again! It was the only amendment to the Constitution approved for the explicit purpose of repealing a previously existing amendment. South Carolina was the only state to reject the Amendment.

In 1945, at the age of 36 years old, Jean was alive when on August 6th, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. On August 9th, an atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. At least 129,000 people were killed in the two bombings and they still remain the only use of atomic bombs in war. An invasion on mainland Japan had been planned but President Truman ordered the bombs dropped instead.

In 1968, by the time she was 59 years old, on April 4th, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the civil rights leader, was shot and killed by an assassin in Memphis. James Earl Ray was apprehended and plead guilty to shooting Dr. King. Ray died in jail in 1998.