Last Titanic Survivor

Millvina Dean, the last remaining survivor of the sinking of the Titanic has passed away in England at 97. Elizabeth Gladys Dean, known to her friends as Millvina (I don't get that) was only nine weeks old when the ocean liner hit an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean, on the night of April 14, 1912 and sank with a loss of 1,500 people.

She survived after being bundled into a sack and carried to safety. Her mother, Georgette and brother Bertram were also saved, but her father Bertram Frank went down with the ship voluntarily once he saw his family to safety.

Millvena was the youngest passenger aboard the liner, which was the most luxurious, largest and most technically advanced ship in the world.Built in Belfast, it was dubbed 'unsinkable' but it took only 2 hours and forty minutes for it to sink in the icy waters of the Atlantic. It struck the iceburg at 11:40 PM.

After the rescue, Dean and her family eventually were taken back to South Hampton England. She never knew about her experience aboard the tragic ship until she was eight years old and her mother told her just prior to her re-marriage. Millvena never married but worked for the British government during World War II as a cartographer, and later for an engineering company.

Millvena was the honrary president of the Titanic Society in England. She became a celebrity in 1985 when the wreck of the Titanic was found and filmed. She was invited to complete her family's ill-fated journey to the USA aboard the Queen Elizabth II and accepted. She had a wonderful holiday aboard a luxury cruise liner. But, she refused to attend the premiere of the blockbuster movie Titanic in 1997. She thought it would be far too upsetting.

She broke her hip three years ago and was forced to auction off some of her family memorabilia including a one hundred year old suitcase filled with the clothes, donated to her and her family on their arrival in New York, after their rescue. She raised about 32,000 pounds (roughly $64,000 Canadian) at that time. She was admitted to a nursing home and recently, the British Titanic Society and the Belfast Titanic Society created a fund for her.

When the stars of the movie, Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio and the producer, James Cameron heard of the fund, they each donated funds for her care.

Millvina never sought celebrity, but people sought her out and she was always gracious to them , even when they asked for locks of her hair which she politely refused to part with.

Her story is inspiring. There is hope after adversity. A full and rewarding life can follow personal tragedy and loss. It feels like an era has ended with her death