Daily Dose of Titanic

Daily Dose of Titanic keeps the story of Titanic alive one day at a time. For the next year leading up to the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster, we'll be sharing a look back at the events that preceded the sinking.

Monday, March 27, 2006

Titanic's only remaining survivors

They were but small children when they boarded Titanic. Today, they are the only known remaining survivors of the Titanic disaster. Two travelled in third class; one in second. Each of the three lost a father on that terrible night. Only one remembers. One helps others learn about the night to remember. Another considers it a night to forget. This, in short, is their story. ...

Lillian Gertrud Asplund, born Oct. 21, 1906, was five years old when she boarded the Titanic as a third class passenger along with her family. Lillian was sent away in lifeboat 15 along with her mother and little brother. Her father and two older brothers remained on board the sinking ship and lost their lives when she sank. Lillian lives in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts today and is the last living Titanic survivor who has memories of the fateful voyage and the "night to remember."

Barbara Joyce West, born May 24, 1911, boarded Titanic as a second class passenger along with her parents and her sister, Constance. The women of the family were placed in lifeboat 10, while Mr. West remained on board and perished in the sinking. The three surviving Wests returned to England on White Star's Celtic. Barbara lives in Truro, England and never talks about the disaster, saying she wants "nothing to do with the Titanic people."

Elizabeth Gladys "Millvina" Dean, born Feb. 2, 1912, was only two months old when her family boarded the Titanic as third class passengers. The family was board for Kansas City, Kansas, where Millvina's father planned to open a tobacco shop. When the evacuation of the ship began, Millvina and her mother and brother, Bertram, were placed in lifeboat 10. Her father, Bertram Frank Dean, remained on board and perished in the disaster.

Following the disaster, Georgette Dean returned to England aboard White Star's Adriatic with her young son and daughter. Millvina never married and lives in Southampton, England, the port from which she departed on Titanic on April 10, 1912. She is the youngest of the living survivors and the last survivor who attends Titanic-related events. In 1997, Millvina crossed the North Atlantic on the QE2, completing her family's interrupted journey to Kansas.


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