Karen Kilgariff
speaker
3,962 appearances
39 recordings
3 series
first heard Nov 2024
last heard 8 Jun
Karen Kilgariff’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 1.
Appearances
That's how I like to, that's how I'll write it. Totally. But after several hours, once the blizzard finally subsides, Minnie and the children see the full extent of what has happened around them. Not only has the storm destroyed buildings and created massive barn-sized snow banks. Oh, my God. But it's also claimed many lives.
For the parents of Minnie's 13 children, learning that their kids made it would feel like nothing short of a miracle, one that Minnie herself is solely responsible for. The Omaha Evening Bee describes the scene as one of the students is reunited with their parents, reporting, quote, Wow. So the extent of chaos, death, and disruption associated with this blizzard is huge.
Across the Midwest, trains are stopped in their tracks, farmers lose the entirety of their crops, and their livestock freezes to death. But then, of course, there's the loss of human life. Experts say we'll never know the true death count because the population wasn't known as well.
David Laskin estimates that there were between 250 and 500 victims of this snowstorm, many of them being children who were either at school hunkering down or trying to head home after being dismissed. Because of this, the snowstorm is eventually nicknamed the schoolhouse blizzard or the children's blizzard.
More people will die in the days and weeks following the storm from things like pneumonia or frostbite or gangrene from frostbite. As the word of this terrible event spreads beyond the region, an overwhelming sense of grief is felt by the entire country. And that's when this feel-good story of the 19-year-old teacher in Nebraska who saved her entire class starts getting attention.
The Omaha Evening Bee first reports on Minnie Freeman saying, quote, those who have braved the terrors of a Nebraska blizzard need not be told that it required courage to enable a young girl to breast those furies having in her keeping the lives of 13 little ones and the happiness of 13 homes. Shit.
Those who felt and suffered from the effects of Thursday's storm need not be told that the act of that young girl was one from which strong men themselves might quail. Yeah. Love you, Minnie. Soon more papers start to circulate Minnie's story. Virtually overnight, 19-year-old Minnie Freeman becomes a much-needed hero. She's lionized. She's celebrated. She's nicknamed Nebraska's fearless maid.
And then over in Chicago, a music publishing company debuts a song about Minnie called, quote, 13 Were Saved. And it goes a little something like this. A one and a two. Hell no. 13, we're safe. 13, we're safe. 13, you always just do it. Hello, baby. The New York Times reports that Minnie receives letters and gifts and more. The Omaha Evening Bee actually describes her this way.
They say, quote, Minnie Freeman is above medium height, dark hair, gray eyes, and a remarkably pretty girl. She is said to be an excellent musician and a possessor of a charming voice. It's believed that Minnie receives nearly 200 marriage proposals from strangers after this story goes wide. Get it, girl. Right? They're like, she's brave. She's pretty. Yeah. Come work on my farm. Totally.
Come have lots of children. Yep. Bear my children and do all that for me. Yeah. Meanwhile, over in D.C., government officials are trying to figure out how to make sure that no American is ever caught off guard by such a huge storm again. This only gets more urgent when just months later, in March of 1888, another historic blizzard hits the northeastern United States and Canada.
It had strengthened after working hours on a Saturday, which at the time, Army forecasters didn't work on Sundays, so no one knew this storm was coming. Right. It became the Great Blizzard of 1888, with parts of the Northeast seeing nearly 60 inches of snowfall and 50-foot-tall snowdrifts. Five-story building snowdrifts.
This storm claims around 400 lives, including 200 deaths in New York City alone. On the heels of these two blizzards, the federal government decides to restructure the Weather Bureau. In 1891, it's moved from the Army's purview over to the Department of Agriculture, which has the reputation of being much more science-minded. and they begin tracking weather across the country 24-7.
Today, the agency overseeing weather is the National Weather Service, which lives under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They still track the weather around the clock and fortunately have the means to spread alerts and advisories to warn us about extreme weather events. What's that look on your face, Georgia?
Are they going to shut that one?
Oh.
Why are we politicizing? Weather. These departments are important for this country. Necessary even. And the idea that people running them should have experience. Knowledge. A clear criminal record. A background. Basic stuff. Have run, have been chosen by the people.
You're asking for too much, Karen. You're right. Let me just conclude here. As for Minnie Freeman, she stays active in her community for the rest of her life. First in Nebraska, later when she moves with her husband to Illinois, she becomes active there.
The New York Times notes, quote, she was a political and social activist in Nebraska and Chicago at a time when female public figures were few and far between.
Minnie Freeman becomes the first female member of the Republican National Committee to represent Nebraska. She's part of a group that creates its state seal. She's even appointed as a delegate to different political conferences by two Nebraska governors. Wow.
When asked about her heroic adventure during the schoolhouse blizzard in 1888, which earned her so much fame at the time, she matter-of-factly tells the Omaha Evening Bee that, quote, I feel that too much has already been said of an act of simple duty. Notoriety, I do not desire. End quote. Humble, too. It's like Case File style. Minnie Friedman passes away in 1943 when she's in her early 70s.
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