Anna Williams: pioneering female doctor and bacteriologist who helped develop the diphtheria antitoxin, or eccentrically curious adrenaline junkie? You decide.

>She [**Anna**] loved going up in airplanes with stunt fliers – a reckless act in pre-World War I airplanes – and loved sudden fast turns and out-of-control loops. She loved to drive and was always speeding; when traffic was stalled, she often simply pulled into the opposite side of the road and proceeded, and she had a string of traffic tickets to prove it. Once she took a mechanic’s course and decided to take her Buick engine apart – but failed to put it back together. >In her diary she wrote, “From my earliest memories, I was one of those who wanted to go places. When I couldn’t go, I would have my dreams about going. And, such wild dreams were seldom conceived by any other child.” _________________________ **Source:** Barry, John M. “The Race.” *The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History*. Penguin Books, 2009. 272. Print. _________________________ **Further Reading:** [Anna Wessels Williams](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Wessels_Williams) ________________________ **If you enjoy this type of content, please consider donating to my [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/HistoryLockeBox)!**