Clinton and Jennie's House
Vincent Ranch, Hamilton, Montana, 1920 - 1930
In Memory of
Donald Nicholas Vincent
December 4, 1924 - January 29, 1927
Donald Nicholas Vincent was born on December 4, 1924, in Hamilton, Montana, his father, Frank, was 33 and his mother, Flossie, was 29. He was Frank and Flossie's third child and had one brother and one sister. He died January 29, 1927, in his hometown, at the age of 2 after contracting measles on a family vacation to San Bernardino, California, to visit Flossie’s sister, Inez. Donald was buried in Riverview Cemetery in Hamilton, Montana
Submitted by Bob Vincent, January 7, 2022.
With A Ribbon in Her Hair
The Story of Flossie Jewel Pyle -Vincent - Gilleland - Olsen
October 4, 1895 - July 4, 1981
Written by Marjorie June Vincent - Coombs
Chapter 4
Troubles, Trials, and Tragedies
Donald’s Death
"Mother was very overprotective of her children and the anxieties that were part of her nature often came to the fore when she was caring for them. When they were infants she overdressed and almost smothered them with flannel clothing and wrappings. As a result they were often covered with itch heat rash. I was a summer baby and was treated for colic by stoking up the kitchen range and holding my feet in front of the opened oven door! When Frank was a newborn infant Grandmother Vincent interceded for him with Mother in a very kindly way, saying, “I think I’d take off some of those clothes so the boy can breathe.”
During the fall of 1926, when her youngest child, Donald Nicholas, was almost three years old she and our Dad decided to take their young family by train to Southern California for Christmas to visit Mother’s sister, Inez Taylor, and her family. What was to have been a glorious expedition turned to anxiety when Betty Rae came down with the measles exposing the three Vincent children. The vacation was shortened somewhat so that the return trip could be completed before we became ill. All three of us had exceptionally severe cases. Donald, who was somewhat frail and subject to bronchitis, contracted pneumonia as well.
Little could be done in those days for either measles or pneumonia. During that miserable, cold January kindly Dr. George McGrath, from Hamilton, came often to the house but could do little except give Donald whiskey weakened with water. All of the adults took turns keeping vigil at the bedsides of the three sick children. Grandmother Vincent was taking her turn when Donald slipped away, at dawn, the morning of January 29, 1927.
Mother said of this time, “It was a sad part in our lives when we lost Donald—he was the only blonde. We grieved pretty much for him, all of us did. In a few months I was pregnant with Herb and that made us very, very happy that a new baby was coming. He was a very choice baby because he followed Donald’s footsteps. I was so afraid that I would lose him, too, that I bundled him up. He had bronchitis one whole winter but he did grow up husky.”