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Before being popped into a sack, did she sense the confusion and fear on the sloping deck where her doomed father stood?
Surely, her tiny ears picked up the distress blasts from the settling Titanic, the fading cries of those in the black water’s freezing clutch, the moans and gasps from shocked fellow survivors in the rocking boat. Did she even cry?
We will never know. Millvina Dean was only 2 months old when the Titanic went down, and all of her memories are hand-me-downs from her mother.
She was the youngest survivor. Now, at 96, she is the last, the only living direct connection to the tragedy.
A connection with a Kansas City connection.
She and her family were on their way to a relative’s home in Hyde Park. Her father, Bertram Dean, intended to open a tobacco shop here.
They were supposed to leave Southampton aboard another White Star liner, but a coal strike caused them to be transferred to the massive new ship. A third-class berth was all they could afford for their cruise into history.
At their last European stop in Queenstown, Ireland, Georgette Eva Dean got off a postcard to her parents: “Dear Mother, just a card to say we are enjoying ourselves fine up to now. Little baby was very restless. With best love, Ettie.”
Little baby Elizabeth Gladys — now known as Millvina — did not know until she was 8 years old, when her mother was about to remarry, that she was even a survivor of the sinking in the early morning of April 15, 1912.
She lived with her mother and, because of Ettie’s reticence, was not involved in Titanic commemorations until her 70s, although her older brother Bert enthusiastically granted interviews until his death.
Now, Dean has cut back her appearances. She had hoped to be present Friday at a 96th anniversary event in Southampton, near where she still lives, but she canceled because of a chest infection and loss of her voice.
“I am truly sorry that I won’t be able to do the talk on Friday, as I was so looking forward to it, and I hope people won’t be too disappointed,” local press quoted her as saying.
In October, Barbara West Dainton died at age 96 in England, after decades of silence. The year before, the last American survivor, Lillian Gertrud Asplund, passed away at age 99. She had been old enough to remember the ice in the sea.
In past interviews, Dean has said:
•“Before they found the wreck (in 1985) I was living an ordinary simple life.”
•“I have no regrets. I’ve found it all most interesting, and I always like meeting people.”
•“Some people are obsessed with me. Some even look upon me as if I am the Titanic!”
•“I can’t bear iced drinks. The iceberg, you know.”
The iceberg. Many were not aware of the collision, but Bertram Dean was wakened by it. That implies their cabin was forward.
In any event, he left to investigate and quickly returned to get the children dressed and up on deck.
Millvina Dean: “A lot of people thought the ship was unsinkable and stayed in their cabins, but he wanted us out straightaway.”
Some of the myths and mysteries around the infamous sinking may never be straightened out, from what the game-to-the-end orchestra was playing (“Nearer My God to Thee” or “Songe d’Automne”?) to why the officers were so cavalier about the ice field ahead of them. A small one: Which lifeboat saved the Deans?
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