Last Titanic Survivor Hits Rough Waters

96-Year-Old Woman Sells Mementos From Doomed Ship To Pay Nursing Home Bills

(CBS/AP)  Millvina Dean was only 2 months old when she was wrapped in a sack and lowered into a lifeboat from the doomed Titanic. Now 96, the last survivor of the tragic sinking is selling mementos of the disaster to help pay her nursing home fees.

Rescued from the bitterly cold Atlantic on that April 1912 night, Dean, her 2-year-old brother and her mother were taken to New York with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Before returning home to England, they were given a small wicker suitcase of donated clothing, a gift from New Yorkers to help them rebuild their lives.

Now, Dean is selling the suitcase and other Titanic mementos to help pay her nursing home fees. They are expected to go for $5,200 at an auction of Titanic memorabilia Saturday in Devizes in western England.

Among the items are rare prints of the Titanic and letters from the Titanic Relief Fund offering her mother one pound, seven shillings and sixpence a week in compensation.

But the key item in the sale is the suitcase, said auctioneer Andrew Aldridge. "They would have carried their little world in this suitcase," he said Thursday.

Dean has lived at Woodlands Ridge, a private nursing home in the southern city of Southampton - Titanic's home port - since she broke her hip two years ago.

"I am not able to live in my home anymore," Dean was quoted as telling the Southern Daily Echo newspaper. "I am selling it all now because I have to pay these nursing home fees and am selling anything that I think might fetch some money."

Dean told CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips that her nursing home fees run as much as 3,000 pounds, or close to $5,000 dollars, a month.

Although Britain has a free health care system, private providers offer more comprehensive services for a fee. In the case of nursing homes, state-run facilities are available and cost much less than private ones. But they are more spartan and offer fewer amenities, such as shared rooms and no private TVs.

"I'm not, what's the word, materialistic - not the slightest bit. I am now," Dean told CBS News.

Local authorities often pay a portion of the costs of private nursing home care based on an individual's assets; anyone with more than $39,000 in assets has to pay their own fees.

But another rescue may be at hand, reports Phillips. As her story spread, people decided to help.

"I really felt that this was something that could really pay lasting tribute to all the people who died on the Titanic," Guy Schum, a printer in Virginia, told CBS News.

"She survived the Titanic. Why is she having trouble in a nursing home at 96," said John Fitz-William, an opera singer in Chicago.

In 1912, baby Elizabeth Gladys "Millvina" Dean and her family were steerage passengers emigrating to Kansas City, Mo., aboard the Titanic.

Four days out of port, on the night of April 14, 1912, it hit an iceberg and sank. Billed as "practically unsinkable" by the publicity magazines of the period, the Titanic did not have enough lifeboats for all 2,200 passengers and crew.

Dean, her mother Georgetta and brother Bertram Jr. were among 706 people - mostly women and children - who were rescued by the steamship Carpathia and survived. Her father, Bertram Dean, was among more than 1,500 who died.

Dean did not know she had been aboard the Titanic until she was 8 years old, when her mother, who was about to remarry, told her about her father's death.

She has no memories of the sinking and said she preferred it that way.

"I wouldn't want to remember, really," she told The Associated Press in a 1997 interview.

Dean said she had seen the 1958 film, "A Night to Remember," with other survivors, but found it so upsetting that she declined to watch any other movies about the disaster, including the 1997 blockbuster "Titanic," starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet.

Dean began to take part in Titanic-related activities in the 1980s, and was active well into her 90s. She visited Belfast, Northern Ireland, to see where the ship was built, attended Titanic conventions around the world - where she was mobbed by autograph-seekers - and participated in radio and television documentaries about the sinking.

The last American survivor of the disaster, Lillian Asplund, died in 2006 at the age of 99. Another British survivor, Barbara Joyce West Dainton, died last November at 96.

Aldridge said the "massive interest" in Titanic memorabilia shows no signs of abating. Last year, a collection of items belonging to Asplund sold for more than $175,000.

"It's the people, the human angle," Aldridge said. "You had over 2,200 men, women and children on that ship, from John Jacob Astor, the richest person in the world at the time, to a poor Scandinavian family emigrating to the States to start a new life. There were 2,200 stories."

[ivandrago]

When a poor person gets their story told in international new, they are about to get paid. The big money guys are rushing for their check books to help this old lady out. Good for her. Nobody back then would have expected to live this long. It must be hard to plan retirement into your late 90s.

[toolmangler-2009]

As many millions (billions?) as have been made from the tragic deaths of over 1500 people, surely a fund could be started to help this laat survivor in her last days.

[antoniof123]

This really sucks she is selling things that she wanted to keep why oh wait CEO''s make billions from tax payers wellfare but people get screwed. Thanks GOP I will be remembering you for years to come.

[bailmeout1]

"Dean, her mother Georgetta and brother Bertram Jr. were among 706 people - mostly women and children - who were rescued by the steamship Carpathia and survived. Her father, Bertram Dean, was among more than 1,500 who died."

No equality? No Right To Privacy? Why is it that men are EXPECTED and DEMANDED to give up their lives? Oh yeah, thats what we do......

[downtowner97]

Get the necklace before she goes out alone to "look at the water".

[easeup-2009]

This really sucks she is selling things that she wanted to keep why oh wait CEO''''s make billions from tax payers wellfare but people get screwed. Thanks GOP I will be remembering you for years to come.

Posted by antoniof123 at 11:04 AM : Oct 17, 2008

This is ENGLAND you dumbazz!

[barbaraf4]

"No equality? No Right To Privacy? Why is it that men are EXPECTED and DEMANDED to give up their lives? Oh yeah, thats what we do......" Posted by bailmeout1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This was a different time and place. The maritime tradition has always been "women and children first." In today''s "me first" generation I suggest the survivors would be the strongest and fitest. Meaning no children would be saved.

[credibility2]

I believe the practice of women and children first was meant as a way to safeguard the continuation of the specy. This is a sad situation. It''s as sad of hearing, every so often, about older Hollywood starts pawning their Oscar statues, or ending up living in their cars or at halfway houses. I hope someone with a kind heart and deep pockets will buy the item and then give it back to her. It''s a shme that even the British system isn''t fail proof in being able to take care of their elderly in their waning years.

[erasmus81]

This woman is in her 90s and so were the other two mentioned. I''d be interested to know how old the other survivors were when they died. Not a lot of people live to be 90.

This woman shouldn''t have to be worrying about paying any nursing home fees. That is sad. She should be able to live her last remaining years, worry free.

[akakjb]

This is just sad. I hope this story hitting the international wires gets some people off their way-too-rich rear ends and help this woman out. Yeah, I''m looking at YOU, James Cameron. Part with a bit of the massive amounts of cash you''ve made off the Titanic disaster and pay the woman''s nursing home bills.

[eggy1620]

Why is it considered a tragedy that someone should have to liquidate long held assets in order to pay their bills? As far as I know, leaving a fat inheritance to someone is not guaranteed in any nation%u2019s constitution.

[FHMullane]

It said that one of the other survivors was 99 and the other 96. Maybe that cold water was good. In any event if her expenses are $1000.00 a week this is not going to help much. I hope the people in the UK chip in to take care of her for life....

[erasmus81]

Why is it considered a tragedy that someone should have to liquidate long held assets in order to pay their bills?

Posted by eggy1620 at 12:40 PM : Oct 17, 2008


"She said rooms at the nursing home cost between $1,000 and $1,550 a week, depending on the level of care the resident needs..."

She''s only going to get $5,200 for her stuff. That''s only going to pay for 5 weeks in the nursing home, and that''s if it''s only costing her $1,000 a week.

[dakotaclark]

Hmmm...

Here is an opportunity for the Titanic movie production company folks to stand up and do the right thing.

That movie made more than 600 million dollars from all over the world.

James Cameron and the rest of his movie production folks should take the time and interest to financially help this lady.

Create some good will... !

dakotaclark, you are absolutely right. Just think if 100,000 people read this and they all sent a dollar. Here in Oklahoma, that''s whay we do, gather the masses and challenge them to put a dollar in the ''till

[good4always]

Didn''t she survived because she was given preference to board the lifeboat over the blacks and less rich people who were forced at gun point not to board first?????

[roachcrusher]

Only the Republicans and conservatives can sink a legacy of the Titanic. And they are leaving this country in a Titanic mess. A Reagan economic disaster all over again.

Don''t forget folks, we still got the McCain/Palin giant block of ice floating out there. Don''t let them near the sinking, stinking Republican economy.

[easeup-2009]

Posted by Roachcrusher at 02:10 PM : Oct 17, 2008

Yeah this has everything to do with American politics, moonbat.

[jeannettelj]

THERE WERE TEARS IN MY EYES AS I READ THIS STORY. WE CAN NOT IMAGINE WHAT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE TO TRY AND SURVIVE THE SINKING. SO MANY DIED BUT MANY DID SURVIVE. ALTHOUGH SHE WAS VERY YOUNG, SHE IS PART OF HISTORY. MY FATHER-IN-LAW, WHO DIED IN 2005, WAS BORN ON THE DAY THE TITANIC SUNK. WE NEVER FORGOT HIS BIRTHDAY.

[noamnestymc]

Didn''''t she survived because she was given preference to board the lifeboat over the blacks and less rich people who were forced at gun point not to board first?????
Posted by Good4Always at 02:04 PM : Oct 17, 2008
*** I honestly doubt there was many black people on a ship from traveling from England to the US in the early 1900''s. That shows your arrogance!

[noamnestymc]

Hmmm...
Here is an opportunity for the Titanic movie production company folks to stand up and do the right thing.
That movie made more than 600 million dollars from all over the world.
James Cameron and the rest of his movie production folks should take the time and interest to financially help this lady.
Create some good will... !
Posted by dakotaclark at 01:14 PM : Oct 17, 2008
*** That is a really good idea!

[noamnestymc]

Posted by Roachcrusher at 02:10 PM : Oct 17, 2008
Yeah this has everything to do with American politics, moonbat.
Posted by easeup at 02:21 PM : Oct 17, 2008
*** Politics has everything to do with it. If we hadn''t been angering the Germans so much before use getting into world war 1, maybe the german ship that was only a few miles away would have replied to Titanic and saved most of the people on the ship before it sunk. Reports at the time showed a german ship that wasn''t responding.

[good4always]

#3. Blacks don''''t try to emulate the success stories of other cultures who had strife but overcame. (YO, black folks: 6 million jews who were incinerated, mamed, tortured, and their lives swept away are doing WONDERFULLY) Instead, they make excuses, degrade their own culture and heritage by glorifying the rap culture, embracing violence, not holding their men responsible for staying with their families, and extend their upturned palms out instead of rolling up their sleeves.
--------------------------
Posted by LostUrDik at 02:19 PM : Oct 17, 2008



I am totally agreing with your ALL points.

Haven said that, question still remains.....
did not they prefer richer over poor and/or white over darker skin people when boarding the people on lifeboats?

Did they or did they not put poor/dark skin people on lifeboat also?

[thisandthat1]

Before you feel too sorry for poor Millvina Dean ... she has been making a very lucrative living for many, many years from her story of being on the Titanic. For the right price, Millvina has attended many signing sessions where she''ll sit and sign anything that can be signed (again, for a fee). There is a joke among Titanic collectors that Millvina will sign anything that stops moving! She is a very sweet woman but I doubt very much that she is in financial trouble at this point. More likely, she is selling a few of her personal items and, on advice, talking them up to maximize the bidding!

[good4always]

WOW, even be asking this question. There was only one black family - second class passengers, traveling (pregnant wife and two young daughters) from France to Haiti.
--------------------------

Posted by LostUrDik at 04:42 PM : Oct 17, 2008


you are way to dumber then I thought. You still cannot answer what I am really asking. Ok let me aks the question in 5 languages (if you having hard time in understanding English:

"DID NOT THEY STOP POOR PEOPLE FROM BOARDING THE LIFEBOATS?"

French:
N''ont-ils pas cesser de pauvres gens de monter ` bord des embarcations de sauvetage

Spanish:
No dejar que la gente pobre de embarque de los botes salvavidas

German:
Nicht stoppen sie armen Menschen aus der Rettungsboote an Bord

Japanese:
%u8CA7%u3057%u3044%u4EBA%u3005%u3092%u6B62%u3081%u308B%u4EBA%u305F%u3061%u306A%u306E%u3060%u304B%u3089%u3001%u6551%u547D%u642D%u4E57

[spiritwalk]

Considering the election and what should be a subject of at least slight interest, what does this say regarding what you can expect from the health care business when you retire.

The postings are a perfect reflection of the attitude of the public about this election. You scream and swear at each other over race and class while the system leaves the elderly hustling to pay for their health care.

You get taken advantage of by the lying politicians and the greedy bankers et al. because you get distracted by silly hot button topics while you set yourself up to be robbed and left to fend for yourselves when thinsg go wrong.

[good4always]

Posted by Good4Always

Just curious: is English your second language? Did you graduate from high school?


now this is where you are making me laugh!!

Actually English is my 4th language out of 9 languages that I can Speak, Read and write very well.

I have a Masters in System and software Engineering. A batchelors in Physical Chemistry (which I never used since I opted Software Developmet as my career)

Beside English, IN WHAT 8 OTHER LANGUAGES, SIMULTANOUSLY, YOU WOULD LIKE TO TALK WITH ME?

MAKE SURE THAT YOU SPEAK (WRITE) THE NEXT CONVERSATION IN DIFFERENT LANG THEN THE PREVIOUS ONE.

LETS PROVE WHO IS LESS EDUCATED AND WHO IS VERY SMART.

[beader59]

First off, wow mean people here. I too think $1000-$1500 a week is a little too much for a nursing home, but that''s where she is at now and being in her 90''s, I don''t think moving is such a good idea. Good for her making money off of the Titanic disaster. If it wasn''t her, it would be somebody that wasn''t even involved in the tragedy. I always want to help out where I can, but I do find it hard to want to help out someone financially, when they could have definitely prepared for this. It doesn''t sound like there were any surprises here. Good luck to her.

[toolmangler-2009]

Did they or did they not put poor/dark skin people on lifeboat also?
Posted by Good4Always at 03:12 PM : Oct 17, 2008


They did ''NOT'' put any poor people in the life boats from any race. A few managed to get in them by disguising themselves. What is your point?

[toolmangler-2009]

LETS PROVE WHO IS LESS EDUCATED AND WHO IS VERY SMART.
Posted by Good4Always at 05:21 PM : Oct 17, 2008


I never graduated from high school. However I have a masters in Metallurgy, Tool Design, and Tool Making. I speak and understand the English language very well. Also I am able to "Sprechen Kleine Deutsch, So going by your criteria that would make you very ''educated'' and me ''very smart''. I got my degrees by doing the work as well as learning about it.

[hypnotoad72]

Hmmm...
Here is an opportunity for the Titanic movie production company folks to stand up and do the right thing.
That movie made more than 600 million dollars from all over the world.
James Cameron and the rest of his movie production folks should take the time and interest to financially help this lady.
Create some good will... !
Posted by dakotaclark at 01:14 PM : Oct 17, 2008
-----

Hey, this is creative capitalism - don''t tell people what to do with their hard earned money!

Why not ask the producer of Doctor Who, Russell T Davies - he made an episode involving a Titanic too.

[erasmus81]

"I too think $1000-$1500 a week is a little too much for a nursing home..."

Posted by beader59 at 06:39 PM : Oct 17, 2008

Yeah, $l000-$1500 a week does seem like an awful lot. That should be for two weeks. I think it is approximately $2500 here, for 1 month. Maybe not even that.

[swingset4u]

I agree... I think it would be an awesome gesture for the creators of the blockbuster movie to help this poor woman. What a way to have to die.. broke...

[cattiej]

Let''s cut to the chase people. Where is the Queen of England and why hasn''t she helped this woman?? The Windsor''s live, well, like King''s and Queen''s while the citizens of England pay and pay for support of these people. Isn''t it time for them to get out and earn a living on their own?
Prince Charles spends 5,000 dollars every day, probably most of it on Camilla and his kids.
The people of England should support this women. She is the last of the Titanic passangers. The last of one of the great history events in the world.
(why do we bring people from other countries to the U.S. to be treated at our hospital''s) and other countries like England won''t take care of Ms. McLean who at 96, and is a countrymen. Shame on them, shame on Queen Elizabeth for allowing this to happen, that all her items must be sold to pay for her keep.
Shame on England.

[swingset4u]

Here is the information if anyone wants to help:
Ms. Millvina McLean
C/O Woodlands Ridge
191 Woodlands, Southampton, SO4O 7GL
United Kingdom

I can''t afford much but I think $20.00 U.S. might help...

[swingset4u]

They did ''''NOT'''' put any poor people in the life boats from any race. A few managed to get in them by disguising themselves. What is your point?

Posted by ToolMangler


In 1912, baby Elizabeth Gladys "Millvina" Dean and her family were steerage passengers emigrating to Kansas City, Mo., aboard the Titanic.

I think they were not wealthy either...

[swingset4u]

Why not ask the producer of Doctor Who, Russell T Davies - he made an episode involving a Titanic too.

Posted by hypnotoad72

Nahh, He only made an EPISODE not a full length feature film.

[spiritwalk]

Let''''s cut to the chase people. Where is the Queen of England and why hasn''''t she helped this woman??
Posted by cattieJ

James Cameron and the rest of his movie production folks should take the time and interest to financially help this lady.
hypnotoad72
.....................................

What reality are you people living in? Are you in some sort of psychosis or what?
This story is not about this woman, it is about YOU! Do you think that your little wage checks are going to protect you from ending up like her? Are you in that much denial?
You have just seen in the last 2 weeks how your little dreams of 401k''s and pensions can disappear in a puff of Wall Street smoke. Are you still living the delusion that this can''t happen to you?
You are the poor people and there ain''t no life boats for you. The whole health care business is designed as well as the Titanic and its already hit the iceberg. But you just keep vomiting this insane discourse as if everything is just sailing along can''t possibly end up going down with it. Then what...who are you going after for the money to save you? the Queen? James Cameron? Luke Skywalker? I can''t even believe you are talking like this.
When I went to bed last night I was in my 20''s, when I woke up this morning I was in my 50''s. That''s how fast your life passes. You had better wake up and stop this craziness or you will soon be wishing you were as well off as this woman. And it will be a lot sooner than you believe.

[nothappyatall]

But the key item in the sale is the suitcase, said auctioneer Andrew Aldridge. "

A freaking ordinary suitcase purchased in NYC is suddenly valuable?? people are nuts, valuable is something off the SHIP itself not some old suitcase bought in NYC given to a survivor.

"Where is the Queen of England and why hasnt she helped this woman??
Posted by cattieJ"

Too busy shining up her silver and diamonds no doubt, amazing how this woman sits amongst diamonds, jewels, gold, silver, valuable art, chauffers etc etc- all paid for by working and poor sheeple, meanwhile homeless people live in the park and in cardboard boxes, nice system eh?

[nothappyatall]

her nursing home fees run as much as 3,000 pounds, or close to $5,000 dollars, a month."

"Titanic mementos to help pay her nursing home fees. They are expected to go for $5,200 at an auction "

So basically this will only cover one MONTH more in the nursing home- remember: the auction house takes a percentage for fees too, then there''s taxes...

[pensacola98]

My 4th grade private school teacher was Eva Hart, who was also a Titanic survivor. She was a great teacher and offered something she had plenty of...charactar and experience. I saw her photo in the paper of Ripley''s Believe it or Not museum and passed the moment knowing I received a great gift to simply know her, but even greater was that little piece of her I took with me when I finished her class. Anyone with a story about survival will captivate me and command immense admiration and respect. We live in the age of quitters and underperformance, and seem to behave like trained fleas who wont jump very high to escape.

The story about trained fleas goes like this: About a dozen fleas are placed inside a jar that is sealed with a lid. For two weeks, the fleas jump and bang their heads and eventually learn not to jump so high. After a few weeks, the lid is removed. The fleas are conditioned not to jump so high and never escape. For the one that does and escapes, they always cry out, "Jump a little Higher!!"

Every survivor, like my 4th grade teacher, Eva Hart, was crying out for us to jump a little higher.

[erasmus81]

The Queen of England gives a lot to charities.

[wrmscvsuv]

Comment: We''re always ready to curse the rich and demand heavy taxation from them (ex. Barack Obama) until we need help from them, and then we''re always present with hat in hand.

How hypocritical.

[thomderr]

Your missing the point. The REAL value is the woman and the history she carries with her. Not the suitcase!

[bradosol]

I''m a British senior citizen, too, and feel genuine sympathy for this lady. The cost of nursing-home care is dreaded by the elderly in Britain, especially people who find themselves virtually alone.

But, with respect, most comments here have missed the point - that this lady''s actually fortunate to have something worth selling in order to raise money.

Many old people just don''t have collectable things to auction.

As for selling Titanic memorabilia, it doesn''t really match the case of someone I knew here in Britain who auctioned his war medals - gallantry awards can fetch a good price with collectors on the internet, and some of the biggest bidders are Americans. I''ve never understood the attraction of owning someone else''s bravery awards.

What will be the nationality of the person who buys this old lady''s souvenirs? Where do the most avid gatherers of Titanic memorabilia live?

[ann3332]

Can anyone help that dear lady in britain