WI WI - Ricky Jean Bryant, 4, Mauston, 19 Dec 1949

[summergirl1]

Rereading some links I posted above in the past, I was thinking about how her siblings said they were never allowed to speak of her. In some families, in those days or back in the day in general, if a child or baby died at a young age, it could be a way of grieving to not speak of the loss. I would say that was probably more true earlier than 1949, like back in the Victorian era or early 1900s when it wasn't uncommon for children to die infancy or early childhood (as well as childhood in general), though. It did stand out to her siblings as strange, as well.


People also grieve differently and maybe that was Opal's style of grieving. But there is certainly enough to doubt that she could have died in the fire.