Last Titanic Survivor Dies

by Libby Pelham | More from this Blogger

31 May 2009 07:33 PM

Elizabeth Gladys "Millvina" Dean, the last remaining survivor of the Titanic, died today at the age of 97 in a private nursing home in Ashurst, England where she was living.

Millvina didn't have any personal memories of the sinking of the Titanic, the doomed luxury passenger liner. That is because at the time, she was just nine weeks old. She was on the Titanic with her mother Georgette, father Bertram Frank, and brother Bertram. While Millvina, Georgette, and Bertram survived, her father was among the 1,500 that died on April 14, 1912. The family was headed to Kansas to start a new life, but returned to England after the sinking. Millvina was invited to complete the voyage on the Queen Elizabeth II in 1997, but chose instead to attend the premiere of Titanic, feeling the trip might have been too upsetting.

The Encyclopedia Titanica, a site maintained by devoted enthusiasts, lists that during World War II, Millvina worked as a cartographer for the government then for an engineering firm.

Millvina didn't even know she was on board the ship until she was eight years old. In fact, she didn't get any fanfare regarding the infamous voyage until 1985 when the wreckage of the ship was found. At that point, media started requesting interviews.

Millvina had been forced to sell some of her Titanic memorabilia to pay for her stay in the nursing home. She sold items such as her mother's compensation letters from the Titanic Relief Fund and the clothes donated to her family by citizens of New York as well as the 100 year old suitcase that contained them.

Realizing she needed help, members of the British Titanic Society. the Belfast Titanic Society and celebrities such as Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, stars of Titanic and James Cameron, the director of the film, all donated money to help her finances.

With her death dies a piece of history, a tragic ship that is often romanticized through pop culture.

Learn more about Libby Pelham

Libby Pelham is a work-at-home mom located in Jacksonville, NC. She has a beautiful little boy, Will, born in July of 2004.

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