Aunt Millie
Jeanette Lukens
- Country
- Born 1979, New Mexico; residing Utah
- Dimensions
- 16 x 16 x 1 In.
- Medium
- Linocut
Lukens portrays the story of her second great-aunt Millie, who tended her seven-months-pregnant sister-in-law, Agnes, when she contracted influenza during the 1918 pandemic. Despite being seven months pregnant herself, Millie stayed with Agnes and nursed her back to health until Agnes birthed a healthy baby. Just as Millie was due to have her own baby, she contracted influenza. Neither she nor her new infant girl survived. In the linocut Lukens created, nurse Millie—her own belly big with her baby—holds her sister-in-law, hand on her unborn nephew, who would later tell of the heroic efforts of his Aunt Millie.
“To my family, Aunt Millie is the greatest of heroes. Regardless of the risk to herself, Aunt Millie never hesitated to step in and ‘lift up the hands which hang down.’”
