ATTICA, Ohio — Historian Marjorie Waterfield points at a photo of Clara Edith Work Ayres’ grave.

The picture is small and grainy, but the site’s lack of grandeur is apparent. Situated in the town cemetery of Attica, Ohio, the humble headstone features only Mrs. Ayres’ name, the years of her birth and death, and the Red Cross symbol.

It does not reveal Mrs. Ayres’ central historical significance and the reason why historians like Ms. Waterfield dedicate countless hours to studying her life — Mrs. Ayres, a Red Cross nurse from northwestern Ohio, is known as the first American civilian to die in World War I.

The daughter of James and Mary Work, Mrs. Ayres was born in Attica, Ohio, in 1880. In 1903, she married Wayland Ayres, a local grocery store owner. The couple operated the shop together in Attica for three years. In 1906, however, Mr. Ayres injured his hand while opening a barrel and contracted tetanus. He died within days.

A widow at the age of 26, Mrs. Ayres sold the grocery store and traveled to Chicago to study to become a nurse. She graduated in 1913 and went on to serve as Head Nurse at the Cook County Hospital in Illinois.

In 1917, Mrs. Ayres volunteered as a nurse for the Red Cross and was immediately assigned to work in France. She traveled to New York City, where she boarded the S.S. Mongolia, a mail steamship that was repurposed for the war.

The ship set sail in May, a month after President Woodrow Wilson declared war on Germany.

On May 20, when the ship’screw was running a practice firing of the Mongolia’s weapons, Mrs. Ayres and Helen Burnett Wood, another enlisted Red Cross nurse, were fatally wounded by a shell explosion. Mrs. Ayres was struck in the temple by a brass fragment, killing her upon impact.

Mrs. Ayres is not actually the first American civilian to die in World War I, as 128 Americans drowned in the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915, but she likely was the first American civilian to die following the United States’ official entry into the war.

A hundred years after the accident on the Mongolia, historian Ms. Waterfield believes that people can still learn much from Mrs. Ayres’ death.

“Women didn’t get the same honors that men did,” said Ms. Waterfield, giving a lecture about Mrs. Ayres at the Way Public Library in Perrysburg on Wednesday.

At the time, Red Cross nurses did not hold recognized military positions, meaning that Mrs. Ayres never received a military funeral or gravestone.

The nurses’ deaths on the Mongolia, however, did receive national coverage. From the New York Times to the Chicago Tribune, the American press mourned the death of Mrs. Ayres.

“They all said the same thing, but still, it was national news!” said Ms. Waterfield. “The fact that she was from this little town makes it more interesting than if she was somebody important at the time.”

The United States Senate held hearings in June, 1917, in which several senators accused the Navy of being untruthful about their knowledge of faulty ammunition aboard the Mongolia. Congressional debates over the cause of the shell explosion overshadowed coverage of Mrs. Ayres’ and Miss Wood’s deaths.

“Doesn’t this sound familiar? I mean has anything changed?” Ms. Waterfield said.

Now on the centennial of Mrs. Ayres’ death, Ms. Waterfield hopes that sharing her historical research will help carry on the legacy of the Red Cross nurse’s sacrifice.

The Attica Historical Society is holding a memorial ceremony for Mrs. Ayres at 10 a.m. Monday at the Attica Fairgrounds, 100 Fairgrounds Rd.

Ms. Waterfield will speak about Mrs. Ayres’ legacy and help unveil a historical marker in the fallen nurse’s honor.

Contact Antonia Ayres-Brown at: abrown@theblade.com or 419-724-6368.

First Published May 28, 2017, 4:00 a.m.