Blanche Greenfield was a passenger aboard Titanic.
Background[]
Blanche Strouse, as she was formely known, was Jewish and a daughter of Henry Strouse and Hannah Mork. Hannah was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but from German descendence, from both her mother's and father's side. The same goes for her husband Henry, who had a Prussian origin.
The married Strouse pair conceived Blanche as the younger sister of their first child, Otillia, who was spoken to as ‘Tillie’. She was from 1864, one year after her parents tied the knot in efferson, Kentucky. Blanche followed on February 21, 1867 in Manhattan. In 1876, Hannah also had a son, who they named William. All children were born in the city of New York, were the family resided for practically all their life.
Blanche met Leo David Greenfield, a clothes salesman in the 1880s. His speciality was ladies’ garment, made from fur fabric. They got bound by law on May 5, 1887. William Bertram was the child that had sprung from their love, on Friday, May 11, 1888. As he was their only son, they had room in their house for Hannah, her mother, so they took her in as well.
In the 1910s, William was a young man, still living with Blanche, but when he became vice-president of his father’s fur garment manufacturing firm, he often traveled overseas to buy prime pelts for the company. He was on such a journey in 1912, when, this time, his mother went with him. She loved exploring the world. In April 1912, they were homeward bound, back to New York.
Titanic[]
They saw Titanic up close on the 10th of April, the ship towering over the bay of Cherbourg in France, offering a delightful sight with her lights on, in the evening. She was ready to take on passengers and depart. The Nomadic brought them and other passengers to the ship, which was too large to get closer to port.
Blanche was 45 years old when she and William boarded her in First Class. Blanche’s cabin was D-10 in the most forward part of First Class, on the port side of D-Deck, just behind the bow section. William had the neighbouring D-12.
On the night of April 14, trouble arose for the mighty ocean liner. She had been enjoying a pretty much ..... voyage along with her passengers and crew, but the sighting of a nearby iceberg threw everything in the spanners. The course was quickly altered with her engines being at least slowed down, but it was too late. The Titanic could not turn in time to be clear from the iceberg. Her starboard side brushed the mass underneath the waterline. Water seeped in from the gashes that had appeared.
On April 15, midnight, the captain had gathered some of his officers and looked with Titanic's designer Thomas Andrews at her deckplans. The ship had taken on a lot of water and Thomas Andrews was not convinced she would make it. The ship was going to sink and the captain now ordered his crew to ready the lifeboats.
Her son was busy with card games in the First Class Smoking Room, being in the company of Henry Blank and Alfred Nourney. They had been there before the collision and where now called upon by someone that saw the event taking place. The three men went down below to find the Squash Court flooded to their bewilderment. William then went to his cabin to fetch his mother to get to the Boat Deck. Moments later, the evacuation began. Lifeboat 7 was the first to be lowered at 12:25 A.M. Among the few passengers to take this lifeboat, were Blanche and her son. Titanic could not stay afloat for more than 2 hours and 40 minutes. At 2:20 A.M,
The misery of the swimmers in the freezing ocean was not lost on Blanche, who had hard time seeing it unfold. Many people died that night.
After the sinking[]
The Carpathia came to get the survivors onboard and could bring her and all others straight to her home town. A choppy passage ended at April 18, when Carpahtia was in the harbor.
Back in New York, Blanche was due to have a party on May 5, to celebrate her 25-year anniversary of her wedding with Leo. This was planned before the Maiden Voyage, but she just couldn’t go through with it now, as she was mourning over those that had perished during the sinking of the Titanic. The events were still too fresh and she thought it would be disrespectful to feast.
Later life[]
The Greenfields were situated in Queens in 1915, with their son having his own place after marrying in 1914. He fought in the Second World War and made it out alive.
Although the screaming people in the cold water, meeting their end in such a cruel way, remained stuck in Blanche’s mind for many years, she was not scared of the ocean. Out of respect for her trauma, William remained quiet about Titanic. Blanche had gotten hearing loss from the harrowing expierence, but was still an avid traveler and several voyages were made, among one in 1921 on Titanic’s surviving sister, the Olympic.
On 27 November 1934, Leo was no longer with her. Her widowhood of 2 years ended on November 5, 1936, when the thyroid problems caused her death. She was 69 years old.