ELLEN MAY TOWER, an Army nurse born in Byron in 1868, was honored in Byron on Memorial Day, with a ceremony at her grave site in the Byron Cemetery that was organized by the Byron Chamber of Commerce. The group also paused in remembrance at the waterside and at the Unknown Soldier memorial.
Tower was the daughter of Civil War Captain Samuel Tower, and after caring for soldiers at Camp Wikoff in New York as a member of the Camp Wikoff Angels, volunteered for duty in Puerto Rico, where she died of typhoid fever less than three months later, on Dec. 9, 1898, becoming the first American woman to die on foreign soil in service to the United States.
Among the guests at the Memorial Day service was state Rep. Ben Frederick, who made his customary Memorial Day rounds honoring veterans throughout Shiawassee County, attending and participating in ceremonies in Corunna, Byron, Vernon, Durand and Owosso.
(Courtesy Photo)
