Aenard Compton

"She had the spirit of patriotism and wanted to 'do her bit.'
She gave her life for her country just as willingly and courageously
as the boys who meet the enemy and fall on the battlefield."

Aenard (Ann) Compton was born and raised in Allen, Texas, and studied at Baylor University. She became a teacher, working in the Allen and Amarillo Public Schools. When the United States entered the war in Europe in 1918 she quit her job as a high school principal in Texas City, Texas, and volunteered as a nurse for the Army. That same year a world-wide influenza pandemic killed more people than the war itself, including thousands of American soldiers. At 28 years of age, while working in a US Army hospital in Washington DC, Ann contracted and survived the flu, but died from pneumonia shortly after. She is buried in the Allen Cemetery.


Baylor Roundup 1910. (Her name is mespelled)	Aernard's grave in the Compton Family plot ...	... Allen Cemetery.

According to the Handbook of Texas Online - 450 Texas women served as nurses. One nurse and 5,170 Texans died in the armed services; 4,748 of the dead served in the army. More than a third of the total deaths occurred inside the United States, many of them as a result of the influenza epidemic of 1918.
Aenard Compton is listed on the Baylor University website's Military Memorial page as having died in the service of our country. Go Here.

These two articles came from the McKinney Courier Gazette archives at the McKinney Library:
(two corrections- She was born in 1890, and was 28 when she died.)

McKinney Courier Gazette
Oct. 7, 1918
ALLEN YOUNG LADY
DEAD OF PNEUMONIA
AT WASHINGTON

MISS AENARD COMPTON RECENTLY
VOLUNTEERED IN NURSES DIVISION OF ARMY

Miss Aenard Compton, aged 22 years, died at Washing D. C. Sunday afternoon at 1 o’clock, according to a message received by her father, Dr. H. H. Compton, of Allen. She was the eldest daughter of Dr. Compton and had gone to Washington about one month ago as a volunteer nurse in the hospital division.
She was formerly a teacher in the Allen public school. She taught last year at Amarillo.
Her death resulted from pneumonia which followed an attack of influenza.

McKinney Courier Gazette
Oct. 1918
FUNERAL OF YOUNG LADY
HELD AT ALLEN

MISS AENARD COMPTON DIED IN
WASHINGTON SUNDAY,
REMAINS SHIPPED TO HOME

The remains of Miss Aenard Compton, who died on Sunday, October 6, at Washington DC arrived in Allen Thursday and were rendered by the J. P. Crouch & Co. undertakers of McKinney, who had charge of the funeral arrangements.
The funeral was held at Allen at 10 o’clock this morning. Dr. E. E. King of this city went down to assist in conducting the services.
The deceased young lady was born July 5, 1891 at Allen and was the daughter of H.H. Compton and wife. Her mother has been dead several years. She professed religion in early childhood under the preaching of the Rev. Sid Williams. She joined the Baptist Church and was all that consistency, devotion and conservation could express. She received her education at Huntsville and Baylor University. She taught in the Allen High School several years and the last three years at Amarillo public schools. She resigned a lucrative position at Texas City as principal of its high school to accept a place in the nurses’ division of the army at Washington.
She had the spirit of patriotism and wanted to "do her bit." She gave her life for her country just as willingly and courageously as the boys who meet the enemy and fall on the battlefield.
She was an obedient daughter and a loyal friend.

The following article was written for the ALLEN IMAGE by TOM KEENER, Cultural Arts Coordinator for the Allen Public Library.

John Floyd and Ann Compton Died in Service to Our Country

By Tom Keener

John Floyd and Aenard (Ann) Compton are two Allen war heroes.

Ann Compton is the only Allen woman who died during wartime military service. The daughter of Dr. H.H. and Mary Compton and sister of Vivian Compton, a long time Allen teacher, Ann is buried at the historic Allen Cemetery in the Compton family plot. The McKinney Courier Daily Gazette indicated that she was serving as a nurse at a hospital in Washington D.C., which is where she died. A few weeks before the armistice was signed, she contracted the influenza virus. The Compton family was notified of Ann’s death by telegram.

A bronze plaque containing her name along with other students who died during World War I adorns the Baylor University campus. Frank Jacek of Baylor University researched the school’s annuals, discovering her picture in the 1910 Baylor Round Up. This is Ann’s only known surviving picture. At Baylor, she studied Greek, French, Latin, History of Zoology, Biology, Botany, Physiology, and Pedagogy (teaching methods). She attended Baylor from Fall 1907 to Spring 1911 and later taught in Allen and Amarillo. Before becoming a U.S Army nurse, she was serving as a principal in Texas City. Her obituary states, “she wanted to do her bit. She gave her life as willingly as the boys who meet the enemy and fall on the battlefield”.

First Baptist Church of Allen records indicate that Ann Compton died during World War One, but no other information was available. Recently I discovered her tombstone at the Allen Cemetery, thus I was provided previously unknown birth and death dates. This information facilitated locating her obituary that contained additional pertinent information. Previously forgotten, Aenard (Ann) Compton is now recognized as an Allen heroine.