Topeka High School Ceremony

Miss Faye Friedberg died in Washington D.C. Monday afternoon, following an attack of influenza, according to a telegram received in Topeka yesterday by her father, Samuel Friedberg.

Mrs Friedberg had left for Washington on Friday, on account of her daughter’s illness, and was with her at the time of her death. The news came as a surprise to her father, who had received word in the morning that Miss Friedberg was improving. Mrs Friedberg will arrive in Topeka Thursday with the body of her daughter.

Miss Friedberg was born and raised in Topeka and was a graduate of the Topeka High School, class of 1914. She was graduated in June of last year from the University of Kansas and received her appointment to Washington soon after. Miss Friedberg was an exceptionally good student and had made a special study of music.

Topeka Daily Capital [Topeka, Kansas]
Wednesday Jan. 1, 1919

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War Dept. Washington, DC.

Born 1897 in Topeka, Shawnee Co., KS. Daughter of May & Samuel May FREIDBERG, Topeka

Died from disease 30 Dec 1918 of complications from the Spanish influenza and resulting pneumonia in Washington, DC. With the Casualty Division of the Adjutant General’s Office, War Dept.

There is a short article by Doug Wallace in the Shawnee County Historical Society’s publication “The Home Front” titled “A War Department Casualty” covering a young Topekan who died in the service of her country shortly after the official end of the war.

“Fay Freidberg’s 1914 Topeka High School annual, ‘The Nm-Skulls’ stated her description as “Sunny”, her occupation as “Chatting”, her ambition as “Paderewski” and her favorite expression as “Well, my goodness!” From Topeka High this native Topekan, daughter of a local jeweler, attended the University of Kansas majoring in music, specifically the piano. Sometime during the summer of 1918, Miss Freidberg left for Washington, D.C. where she enlisted in war work. She found a job in the casualty division of the adjutant general’s office. A fellow employee, quoted in the January 1, 1919 Topeka Daily Capital said Fay “was also a faithful canteen worker, her cheery smile brightening the hearts of everyone wherever she went.”

She planned to return home permanently early in the new year, but late December Fay was stricken with the influenza then sweeping the country. After her mother dashed to be near her side, Fay initially rallied and seemed to be getting better. Suddenly her condition worsened – as was so often the case – and she passed away of pneumonia on December 30th. On the Shawnee County Victory Highway Memorial, Fay Freidberg is recorded as the only [Shawnee County] woman member of the Department of War to have died in the Great War in the service of the United States.”