Millvina Dean was just two months old in 1912 when theTitanicstruck an iceberg and sank to the bottom of the Atlantic — and she lived to the age of 97 before dying in 2009.
GERRY PENNY / AFP / GettyMillvina Dean in 2002 at aTitanicexhibit porta .
Millvina Dean was once thelast living survivorof the tragicTitanicdisasterof 1912 . At only two month old , Dean journeyed across the Atlantic onboard the poorly - fated sail lining with her female parent , sire , and brother . The disaster resulted in the demise of her Father-God — a expiration that she would carry with her for the rest of her life .
After thewreck of theTitanicwas discovered in 1985 , news outlets began question Dean about her experience . For the difference of her life , Dean gave interviews , appeared in documentaries , and attended conferences about theTitanic .
GERRY PENNY/AFP/GettyMillvina Dean in 2002 at aTitanicexhibit opening.
This is her story .
Millvina Dean, The Youngest Titanic Survivor
Personal photoMillvina Dean as an infant in her female parent ’s arms .
Millvina Dean was born on Feb. 2 , 1912 in Branscombe , England . in short after Millvina ’s birth , her fellowship decided to emigrate to Wichita , Kansas to find work with some of her Father-God ’s congeneric , who had emigrated earlier .
When a ember smash fatefully keep them from boarding their original ship , Millvina , her mother , her Church Father , and her older pal Bertram get on a passenger ship in Southampton , England as third - year passenger on April 10 , 1912 .
Personal photoMillvina Dean as an infant in her mother’s arms.
That ship was the doomedRMSTitanic , captained byEdward Smith . Not only was Millvina the ship ’s untested passenger at just nine workweek older , she would also be the last subsister after it sank on April 15 .
Millvina Dean’s Perilous Journey Across The Atlantic
On the night of April 14 , 1912 , theTitanicstruck an iceberg . Millvina Dean ’s Father of the Church matte the impact and sent her female parent and the children up to the deck of cards to assay condom .
Because he had responded so quickly , Millvina , her female parent , and her brother were among the first passenger to evacuate . Baby Millvina was placed in a canvas mail chemise and lour down into Lifeboat 10 .
fortunately , they arrived safely in New York four days later . But Millvina ’s father tragically died on theTitanic . His soundbox was never identified .
Originally , Millvina Dean ’s mother planned to stay in America and go forward living the living her husband had planned for them when they rig out on their journey . However , after just two weeks of facing the focus of raising two tyke alone in a foreign country , her mother determine to return to England and not remain on to Kansas .
The three of them set sail back home aboard the shipAdriatic . As the youngest rider of theTitanic , Millvina gained lots of attention and mass medium publicity on her trip back to England .
“ She was the ducky of the liner during the voyage , and so keen was the rivalry between women to nurse this lovable mite of humanity that one of the officers decreed that first and second grade passengers might moderate her in turn for no more than 10 moment , ” theDaily Mirrorreported on May 12 , 1912 , accord toThe Independent .
Life In The Spotlight
PETER MUHLY / AFP / Getty ImagesATitanicpostcard signed by survivors Eva Hart , Beatrice Sandstrom , and Bertam and Millvina Dean is depict on display at the Ulster Transport Museum in Belfast , Northern Ireland .
Millvina Dean and her blood brother went to school with the money from aTitanicsurvivors fund . Because she was too young to remember the calamity , it was n’t until she was eight age older that Dean became cognisant that she had even been a passenger on the ship .
During World War II , Dean became a cartographer for the British government . She also worked in the purchasing department of an technology firm until her retreat in 1972 . Although she never splice , she did have a spirit - long companion discover Bruno Nordmanis .
She flew under the public ’s radiolocation for days , rarely speaking of the calamity that defined her childhood . Then , in the 1980s , the discovery of the ship ’s shipwreck sparked a new wave of interest in theTitanicand its survivors .
“ Nobody knew about me and theTitanic , to be good , nobody took any interest , so I took no interest either , ” she toldThe New York Times . “ But then they find the shipwreck , and after they found the wreck , they come up me . ”
After this , Dean became very fighting inTitaniccommemoration events . She attended several conventions and exhibits throughout the United States and Canada , gave countless wireless and television interviews , and appeared in documentaries on the subject .
PETER MUHLY/AFP/Getty ImagesATitanicpostcard signed by survivors Eva Hart, Beatrice Sandstrom, and Bertam and Millvina Dean is shown on display at the Ulster Transport Museum in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Despite her involvement in theTitaniccommunity , she reportedly refused to learn James Cameron ’s 1997Titanicfilm because she fear it would force her to imagine her father ’s final import .
“ Although I do n’t remember him , have a go at it nothing about him , I would still be worked up , ” she toldThe Irish Timesin a 2009 interview . “ I ’d be consider : ‘ How did he go down ? Did he go down with the ship ? Did he jump overboard ? ' ”
The Legacy Of Millvina Dean, The LastTitanicSurvivor
Millvina Dean officially became the concluding remainingTitanicsurvivor after Barbara West Dainton , the 2nd to last survivor , die in 2007 at the eld of 96 .
Her brother , Bertram Dean Jr. , who was also on theTitanic , died on the 80th anniversary of the ship ’s hit with the iceberg .
In 2008 , Millvina Dean again made international headlines when she announced that she was selling several of herTitanicmementosto pay for the nursing home she lived in , including a canvas sackful her mother used to carry the folk ’s belongings while live in New York . The sale fire intimately $ 54,000 . subsequently , Kate Winslet , Leonardo DiCaprio , and James Cameron kick in to the fund after learning about Dean ’s financial struggles .
Titanic Museum Attraction/FacebookMillvina Dean posing with an actor at theTitanicMuseum Attraction shortly before her death.
And , until her death , Dean continued to attend events and verbalize about theTitanic .
Titanic Museum Attraction / FacebookMillvina Dean bewilder with an actor at theTitanicMuseum Attraction shortly before her death .
Millvina Dean die of pneumonia on May 31 , 2009 , on the 98th day of remembrance of theTitanic’slaunching . She was exist by two nephew and two nieces .
Her comrade , Bruno Nordmanis , spread her ashes from the wharfage of Southampton , where her fellowship had earlier get on theTitanic .
When journalists fromThe New York Timesasked Dean shortly before her death if she believe fate or godlike providence put her on theTitanic , allowed her to outlast , and then allowed her to outlive all of the other passenger , Dean only stated , smiling :
“ Heaven and hell , how can you conceive in something up in the sky ? Still , I ’d love to be proved wrong . ”
Next , agree out theserareTitanicphotosfrom before and after the sinking . Then , take a look at theseTitanicfactswe bet you ’ve never hear before .
