Marea Spies (1900 - 1981)

1900 - In the year that Marea Spies was born, the U.S. helped put down Boxer Rebellion. The Boxer Rebellion took place in China, where the presence of "outsiders" (foreigners) was resented. The United States, along with Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, and Russia, had business interests in China and these countries all sent troops to put down the Rebellion and keep China open to their presence and to Christian missionaries.

1928 - By the time this person was 28 years old, aviatrix Amelia Earhart, age 31, became the first woman to fly solo across North America and back in August. In June, she had been part of a 3 man crew that flew the Atlantic Ocean but since she had no instrument training, she couldn't fly the plane - she kept the flight log. The North American flight became one of her many "firsts" as a female pilot.

1933 - When this person was 33 years old, 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 The 21st Amendment said "The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed."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.

1950 - By the time this person was 50 years old, on October 2, Charlie Brown appeared in the first Peanuts comic strip - created by Charles Schultz - and he was the only character in that strip. That year, Schultz said that Charlie was 4 years old, but Charlie aged a bit through the years.

1981 - In the year of Marea Spies's passing, on August 1st, MTV debuted. It was the first music video TV channel. The first music video played was the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star" - the second was Pat Benatar's "You Better Run".