Cape Girardeau woman's link to the deadly bubonic plague

Dr. Maurice Hilleman — the nephew of my grandmother’s second husband, Bob Hilleman — was mentioned prominently in a 1966 Southeast Missourian article as the man who developed the vaccine against mumps.

In a family filled with carpenters, blacksmiths and farmers, Maurice Hilleman was probably the Sanders clan’s only scientist to achieve even a modicum of fame. He died in 2005.

Erica Mackay McBride had a much closer tie to a notable family member: Her grandfather discovered the relationship among fleas, rats and the bubonic plague. The understanding of that relationship eventually led to control of the disease.

The story of her famous ancestor was published in a Sept. 7, 1973, article in the Southeast Missourian.

Mrs. Cedric C. McBride: "One of the saddest things is that medicine is no longer personalized." (Southeast Missourian archive)

MRS. McBRIDE HAS NOTABLE ANCESTORS

By SALLY OWEN
Missourian staff writer

Nobody hears much about bubonic plague anymore.

But how many of us know why?

Mrs. Cedric C. (Erica) McBride, 1236 Normal, knows the story about the deadly plague, which claimed 13 million lives before it disappeared after sweeping across India in 1896, perhaps better than anyone else. For it was Mrs. McBride's grandfather, Dr. W.G. Liston, who entered the Indian Medical Services in 1898, who is credited with having discovered the integral relationship between fleas, rats and the plague. That theory eventually led to the control of the disease.

In 1971, Dr. Liston was posthumously recognized by the American Veterinary Epidemiology Society and received the Karl F. Meyer Award, cited for his contribution to mankind.

The award was founded in 1964 and was named after the first recipient, who is now honorary president of the society. The award consisted of a gold-headed cane. At this time, Mrs. McBride's father, Col. James N. Mackay of Moray, Scotland, is doing research to locate Dr. Meyer and find out more about the special honor.

Nothing new

Medicine is nothing new for Mrs. McBride, who is supervisor of the newly-expanded obstetrics department at Southeast Missouri Hospital. The Scotland-born nurse is from a long and distinguished line of pioneers in the field of medicine, although through the years a dedication to medicine rather than a longing for public recognition has called few of the family's accomplishments to the forefront.

Mrs. McBride and her husband, who is from Charleston (Missouri), have resided here five years, moving from Virginia. They have four children, Janet, 16; Olay, 14; Grace, 13, and Ian, 8.

After completing medical training in London, and a course in midwifery in Scotland, Mrs. McBride came to this country. A frequent visitor with the family here is her father, Col. Mackay. A retired colonel with the Indian army, he has written regimental histories as well as a detailed family biography.

Knew him well

Mrs. McBride had the opportunity to learn to know her Grandfather Liston quite well. During a portion of World War II, she and her brother resided with him in England. Her mother, Mrs. McBride recalls, "walked out of Burma on foot just ahead of the Japanese" during the war. Looking back, Mrs. McBride says she, and most other children, "accepted" the war as a way of life and that "actually, we found it quite exciting. Children take so many things in stride."

Dr. Liston was, she says, "a congenial, jovial fellow." It was great fun, she notes, to see the steady stream of patients who arrived at his office, set up in the family home.

Dr. Liston completed his studies on plague before the outbreak of World War II, but came out of retirement during the war to work with tropical diseases. In fact, a mosquito, the anopheles Listoni, is named after him.

Mrs. McBride recalls her grandfather, who died in 1950, with a deep fondness and respect. She says that, as children, she and her brother, Hugh Mackay, realized that he had done work with the plague, "but not the extent of it.

"I know several times he, like all men, wondered if he'd done the right thing; if wiping out the plague had really served mankind." He often debated, Mrs. McBride reveals, whether controlling the disease had simply saved people from the plague only to die from famine.

It was quite amusing, Mrs. McBride says, "to play with guinea pigs and mice" in her grandfather's laboratory.

Family notable

The Liston family is a notable one. One of W.G. Liston's ancestors was the first (Scotch) to serve as ambassador to the U.S. From Britain in approximately 1793; another, Dr. Robert Liston, a well-known British surgeon, established a landmark in British history when he performed the first major operation in that country under ether anesthesia in 1846. Still another Liston was the first woman doctor to go to India at the age of 23.

Mrs. McBride, who has also lived in India, but whose native country is still evident in her gentle accent, says she "feels extremely humble talking about her grandfather. He was simply a most remarkable man."

Mrs. McBride believes she "was always going to be a nurse," explaining that in England, people traditionally followed the trends of a family. Indoctrination into medicine was present throughout her childhood, she says. "The dinner table was more the dissecting board rather than the groaning board," she laughs, noting medicine was a constant topic of conversation.

Notes differences

Nursing in England, Mrs. McBride says, was different than it is here in that the training period is longer and that "everything" fell on the nurse because there were fewer aides, orderlies and the like.

"As a country, the United States is relatively wealthy as far as medical equipment goes, she says. "People here are more health-oriented.

"But one of the saddest things is that medicine is no longer personalized. The family doctor used to be a counselor. He knew the family, its economy and its health." Midwifery, she notes, is beginning to see a revival in this country in highly-urban areas and remote rural areas.

Bright, pretty

Mrs. McBride, like her ancestors, believes in doing things well. She recently worked with the Southeast Hospital Building Fund to raise money to help make the new hospital wing a reality. The grand thing about it, she smiles, is that "it doesn't look like a hospital. It's a bright, pretty place."

There are more notable accomplishments to come from the Liston-Mackay-McBride family, no doubt. And, they will probably be done selflessly, and not to win laurels of recognition. That's simply family tradition. "When one lives with a family like ours," she smiles, "nothing surprises us."

Erica McBride worked at Southeast Hospital 28 years. A 2004 article in the Southeast Missourian recalling the 25th anniversary of the Blizzard of '79, mentions McBride:

...In her home on Normal Avenue in Cape Girardeau, nurse Erica McBride received a phone call that morning from a co-worker at Southeast Missouri Hospital advising her to look out her window.

A dangerous situation was building with each additional inch of snow. McBride, on vacation at the time, was one of a few hospital employees who lived close enough to walk to work.

She trudged from her home near the university through waist-high snow drifts in Capaha Park to the hospital, where she would stay for four unforgettable days.

A steady stream of sick and injured people clogged the emergency room. National Guard helicopters swooped in and out on rescue missions. The telephone switchboard stayed lit with frantic calls from parents with sick children, diabetics running low on insulin, new mothers with dwindling supplies of baby formula...

Crisis management

McBride hadn't assisted with a surgery in years. The snow outside had finally stopped, but the chaos inside the hospital continued that Sunday evening and McBride, a registered nurse and supervisor at Southeast Missouri Hospital, found herself in the middle of an emergency Caesarean section.

Six physicians who were either at the hospital when the snow began or made their way there during the storm remained on duty at Southeast during the crucial hours that followed the blizzard. But no surgery staff made it in, leaving McBride and another nurse to assist in the C-section.

The two were successfully coached through the operation by a home-bound surgery nurse speaking by telephone. Both the mother and baby came out fine...

McBride's emergency stint at the hospital lasted four days. After being relieved Wednesday morning, McBride walked home thinking Cape Girardeau had never looked so beautiful.

McBride passed away Nov. 22, 2022, and her obituary was published in the Missourian Nov. 27:

Erica McBride

Erica McBride

Erica McBride died Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022, at the home of her daughter, Grace McBride, following a long illness.

Erica Mary Glen was born Oct. 4, 1929, in London to Col. James and Isabel Mackay. She spent her early life in Scotland and India. She attended school at St. Leonard´s in Scotland and nursing school in London. She was a licensed midwife who rode her bike though the streets of London to deliver babies.

After nursing in London for several years, Erica and a friend decided to travel and work in the U.S. While working in Los Angeles, she met and married Cedric "Mac" McBride Oct. 1, 1954. Soon after the marriage they moved to Emporia, Virginia, where their children were born. The family moved to Cape Girardeau in June of 1968.

Erica worked at Southeast Hospital for 28 years in a variety of capacities: night supervisor, director of nursing and the outpatient lab. More than anything, she enjoyed her work as nurse and manager of Labor and Delivery (OB) where she was known for calling her patients “poppets,” “sweet wee bunnies” and “dearies.” Erica was always so pleased to be stopped by former patients who remembered her nursing care. Thank you if you were one of those people.

After retirement from the hospital, she worked 15 years for her son-in-law at Rob Rueseler and Associates, retiring at age 83.

Erica loved gardening, reading and writing poetry, needlework, traveling and cats, especially her Simon. She had the most wonderful sense of humor and a very strong sense of duty. She wrote wonderfully entertaining letters that are treasured keepsakes.

She was a member of First Presbyterian Church of Cape Girardeau. She enjoyed serving as lay reader (with her beautiful British accent) and baking Scottish shortbread for fellowship gatherings.

She was preceded in death by her husband in 1968, her son, Ian in 1994, and her son, Clay in 2012. She was also preceded in death by her beloved siblings, brother, Col. Hugh Mackay of England and sister, Janet McCarraher of Italy.

She is survived by her daughters Janet (Rob) Rueseler and Grace (Carla) McBride, both of Cape Girardeau, and her daughter-in-law, Madeleine McBride of La Crescenta, California. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Mesha (Nick) Aroutsidis, Eric (Kelli) Rueseler and Ian McBride; and great-grandchildren, Michael, Rachel, Noah and Sophia Aroutsidis and Emma and Greyson Rueseler. Also surviving are dearly loved nephews and nieces in England, Italy and Canada.

The family suggests that memorial donations be made to SEMO Pets (Humane Society)...

The family plans to hold a memorial service in Scotland this summer.