So I hope you have been following us on Face Book or Linkedin. It is my plan to go into a little more detail for those of you that find the FB and Linkedin entries interesting. In our current post I mention our founder, Al Shank Sr. survived the Spanish Flu at age 4. In fact he and my grandfather, Albert Henry Shank both did. The back story is what they lost. Grandad has decided to go into the cattle business in a modest way and had purchased a small amount of Black Angus cattle. Probably about 10-15 or so. When both he and my father came down at the same time with the flu, they either lost the cattle because they wandered off or the cattle died because they couldn't take care of them since both were really sick. That ended Grandad's foray into the cattle business.
To add another layer...did you know that Fort Riley, Kansas is considered to be one of the first areas where Spanish Flu showed up? It was thought to have been carried among the soldiers coming back or leaving for postings. I had my daughter, Miranda, ask me where my Grandad bought is cattle. I had to admit I didn't know that. Well my Grandad and Father lived in a small house on the Cimarron River in Stevens County, KS. Miranda is a family history buff and said there is now some proof that the very earliest showing of the Spanish Flu may have been in Haskell County, KS.....right next to Stevens County, KS. I guess we always will wonder where those cattle came from........see you next week.