Helen Monypeny Newsom was a well-known First Class passenger on the RMS Titanic.
Background[]
Helen Moneypeny Newsom was an American woman, born in 1892 in Columbus, Ohio and was the second and last child of real estate broker Logan Conway Newsom and Sarah Maybell Monypeny.
Her father died on June 28, 1901, when Helen was only 9 years old. Two years later, his mother remarried to another man, also a real estate agent, named Richard Leonard Beckwith.
The family soon settled in Manhattan and Helen graduated from Briar Cliff Manor School. Young tennis champion Karl Behr had an interest in her and chased her around the ocean to get her many years later.
In early 1912, Helen's mother took her and Richard on a tour of Europe to take her daughter's mind of the young man that had his eye on her. She was going to be in for a big surprise. The aforementioned Karl Behr still found out about their trip and the two met once again.
Titanic[]
To return to the United States, Helen, her mother Sarah Maybell Beckwith, and her stepfather Richard Leonard Beckwith, boarded the Titanic on April 10, 1912 in Southampton. Helen was staying in cabin D-47. When the Titanic made its stop in Cherbourg, a very attractive young man boarded the ship. Surprisingly, it was Helen's admirer, Karl Howell Behr. He knew the family's plans and had made sure that his business trip had led him onto the Titanic, where he knew his 'girlfriend' would be.
On the night of April 15, Helen, Karl, Sarah, Richard, as well as another couple, Edwin Nelson Kimball and Susan Gertrude Kimball, got to the Boat Deck and could take a seat in lifeboat 5, which saved their lives. Helen's mother arranged that the entire group could board, both men and women.
Later life[]
Karl Behr
A few months after the disaster, Helen Newsom and Karl Howell Behr were married on March 1, 1913, at the Church of the Transfiguration in New York City. They had 4 children: Karl, Peter, James, and Sally Behr. Following Karl Behr's death in 1949, Helen remarried Dean Mathey, who was Chairman of the Board of the Empire Trust Company in New York. Dean was also a close friend and tennis partner of Karl's. Helen continued to travel frequently, and in later years, she settled at Pretty Brook Farm in Princeton, New Jersey. In addition, she was a member of various organizations such as Stetney Champ Committee, Colony Club New York. Present Day Club and Princeton Garden Club.
Helen herself died in hospital in 1965 at age 72 and was buried in Princeton Cemetery on private family land. Dean Mathey passed away on April 16, 1972.