ATHENS, Ga. - One hundred years ago, Mendota resident Hilda Dorothea Zapf kept a diary that detailed how she and her family of 11 survived the Spanish Flu pandemic.

Zapf lived in Mendota from 1899-1994 and for 88 years she recorded detailed accounts of her life in volumes and volumes of diaries hidden away in a closet underneath the steps of her home on Indiana Avenue. Her great-niece, Denise D’Angelo Jones, spent much of her childhood and young adult years visiting her aunt in Mendota and enjoying the many detailed stories that Zapf would share with her.

In 2019, Jones’ mother, Shirley Conner Baxter, died from vascular dementia leaving Aunt Hilda's diaries behind. For six years Jones, a retired chiropractor, cared for her mother in her home in Georgia and enjoyed hearing Shirley reminisce about her treasured memories of living in Mendota as a child in the 1930s.

When shelter in place directives were enacted due to COVID-19, Jones decided to revisit her Aunt Hilda's Spanish Flu diary entries from 1919. The observations contained in Zapf’s journal entries from 100 years ago were surprisingly relevant for today’s climate of pandemic uncertainty.

Zapf documented how her family and the community survived the virulent flu throughout her descriptive diary writings. Hand washing, lockdowns, mask wearing and daily visits from Dr. E.P. Cook, Jr. (who had lost his wife and child a year earlier) were all recorded by Zapf in her diary, along with town gossip - and a few giggles - which are shared in a book compiled by Jones titled, “Spanish Influenza: Nineteen Days in 1919.”

A pre-release of the book is currently available as an E-book at books2read.com/u/4NLdoN. View a YouTube promotional video at https://youtu.be/sx0tpFngj4o.