AUSTIN (WBAP/KLIF News) — A Texas woman infected with COVID-19 died last week, 102 years after her sister died from the Spanish flu.
Selma Esther Ryan lived in San Antonio until three years ago when she moved into an assisted care living center in Austin at the age of 93. Her daughter, Vicki Spencer, told KXAN her mother got sick April 3 along with four other residents of the home.
“Over the next five days I watched through the window as she got sicker and sicker,” Spencer said. “It was so hard to not be with her. Her 96th birthday was April 11. Our family gathered outside her window, but it was obvious that something terrible had happened to her.”
Ryan died from the COVID-19 pandemic on April 14, 102 years after her older sister, Esther, died at the age of 5 from the Spanish flu pandemic that killed more than 50 million people worldwide.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports Ryan spent her life in several state. She also lived in Ethiopia and the Phillipines. Her obituary says, “She excelled in the game of Bridge, gardening, cooking and many other things. She created lovely works of art with counted cross stitching. She loved the Lord and was active in her church.”
