In my last post, we looked at the breakdown of the Norwalk High School Class of 1907 by gender and age at the time of their graduation. In this post, we’ll check out how long they lived, and how their average lifespans compared to life expectancy of the general population in 1907 and today. Here’s a chart that lays it all out.

The Norwalk High School Class of 1907 lived almost ten years longer than the general population. What does this tell us about them, and about public education 1907? It shows, in my opinion, that high school back then, at least in cities the size of Norwalk, was mostly for the upper middle class. The children of workers in the factories of the city, and those of most farmers, could not afford the luxury of attending school into their late teens. They needed to work to support their families. Although I don’t have statistics on this, I would imagine most young people did not make it into high school at all. And education is a major factor in predicting future wealth, and the ability to live a healthy lifestyle. What to you think?

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Ruth Jenkins was the longest lived of the class of 1907. Born July 11, 1889, she lived until October 12, 1987, when she died at the ripe old age of ninety eight years. The first loss among all the graduates was Edna West, who passed away in 1936 just short of turning fifty.

Ruth Jenkins (1899-1987) and Edna West (1897-1936)

Ruth and two other women in the class lived into their nineties, five made it past eighty, and three lived to be over seventy. One each passed away in their sixties, fifties, and, as we saw with Edna, forties.

Only one of the men lived to be over ninety: U.S. Senator Stephen Young, who lived to be ninety five years old. Two of the men lived into their eighties and another two into their seventies. Three died in their sixties and two in their fifties. The first of the men to pass away was Arthur Young, the leader of the class academically, and president of the class.

Stephen Young (1899-1984) and Arthur Young (1899-1943)

That’s it for longevity. Next up, education, where we’ll see who besides Arthur Young among the graduates received a scholarship.

Footnotes:

[1] Because I have not been able to determine when Florence Davidson and Cleo Collins died, they were not considered in calculating the life expectancy for the females of the Class.

[2] “Life Expectancy by Age, 1850–2011.” Infoplease. © 2000-2017 Sandbox Networks, Inc., publishing as Infoplease. 17 Jul. 2017.

[3] “U.S. Life Expectancy: White American,” World Life Expectancy. 17 Jul. 2017.

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