Illness and Death
The First Lady was noted for her elegant White House receptions and dinners. In late 1891, she began to battle tuberculosis, which at the time had no known treatment other than rest and good nutrition.
She tried to fulfill her social obligations but, after her condition worsened, she traveled to spend the summer of 1892 in the Adirondack Mountains. The air was considered healthful for TB patients. After her condition became terminal, she returned to the White House, where she died on October 25, 1892. Preliminary services were held in the East Room, and her body was returned to Indianapolis for the final funeral at her church.
After the period of official mourning ended, the Harrisons' daughter Mary McKee took up the duties of hostess for her father during the last months of his term.
In 1896, Benjamin Harrison married his late wife's niece and former secretary, the widow Mary Scott Lord Dimmick.
Read more about this topic: Caroline Harrison
Famous quotes containing the words illness and/or death:
“To you illness is negligible. You have learned that you can dominate yourself. You know that your body lags, but your soul proceeds upon its triumphant way.”
—Alice Foote MacDougall (1867–1945)
“The techniques of opening conversation are universal. I knew long ago and rediscovered that the best way to attract attention, help, and conversation is to be lost. A man who seeing his mother starving to death on a path kicks her in the stomach to clear the way, will cheerfully devote several hours of his time giving wrong directions to a total stranger who claims to be lost.”
—John Steinbeck (1902–1968)