While researching ancestors you realize how fortunate it is to live a long and prosperous life. Premature deaths, especially those of infants and children must be extremely difficult for the families and unfortunately are fairly common. But the following death is probably one of the most tragic I've encountered in my ancestral tree.
Ole and Mari Finnestad's great granddaughter, Lillian Thompson, the 4th and youngest child of Dena (Vallem) and Axel Thompson died due to a plane crash on March 4, 1945 in Weslaco, Texas.
According to the death certificate, Lillian had lived in Texas for 9 years and was employed as a bank teller. She was a few weeks shy of her 27th birthday and had never married.
According to her cousin Genevieve, Lillian loved to ride horses, which must have made Texas a great place for her to live after leaving Chicago.
Lillian was the granddaughter of Rachel (Finnestad) and Lewis Vallem.
I attempted to find a newspaper article about the crash but because it happened prior to the end of World War II, the only plane crash stories that came up related to the war.
Ole and Mari Finnestad's great granddaughter, Lillian Thompson, the 4th and youngest child of Dena (Vallem) and Axel Thompson died due to a plane crash on March 4, 1945 in Weslaco, Texas.
According to the death certificate, Lillian had lived in Texas for 9 years and was employed as a bank teller. She was a few weeks shy of her 27th birthday and had never married.
According to her cousin Genevieve, Lillian loved to ride horses, which must have made Texas a great place for her to live after leaving Chicago.
Lillian was the granddaughter of Rachel (Finnestad) and Lewis Vallem.
I attempted to find a newspaper article about the crash but because it happened prior to the end of World War II, the only plane crash stories that came up related to the war.
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