..his widow married his best friend...
Emily Bechman Biehl worked at Western Electric where she met and married Frederick Biehl. And even though they both worked for Western Electric, Emily did not join her husband for the excursion and picnic because she did not like the idea. Her husband Frederick died on the Eastland not long after they were married. Emily was a bride at 18 and a widow at 19.
A year after the tragedy claimed her first husband, Emily remarried George Berner. George and his younger brother, Walter, were also on the Eastland when it rolled into the Chicago River. They both survived. George was one of Frederick's best friends.