Bye Bye Bertha.

RAY: A fellow named Larry Gordon sent this in though he probably won't recognize it since I changed the story a little bit.

When I was a kid I always looked forward to the Christmas visits from my Aunt Bertha. She was so much fun. Every year she gave me the same present- two pairs of hand-knitted wool socks. We lived in San Diego and I really didn't need wool socks, but it was the thought that counted.

In 1951, when I was 10, our folks told me that Aunt Bertha would not be coming for Christmas. She wasn't feeling well and at her age the trip was difficult to say the least. I kind of sensed that this was pretty much the end of the wool socks and I was right. It was also the end of Aunt Bertha. Before the week was out she was dead. The county medical examiner of course had to list a cause of death on her death certificate.

Now I can't be 100% sure, but I think that Aunt Bertha could very well have been the last person in the U.S. to die of, and have this listed as his or her official cause of death. There were many Americans who died of the same thing in 1951, and before, but none after. The question is, what did Aunt Bertha die of?

Think you know? Drop Ray a note!

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