Mary 'Minnie' Coutts
Mary Winnie 'Minnie' Coutts was a Third Class passenger on Titanic.
Mary Winnie Trainor originated from Ireland, where she was born to farmer Hugh Trainor and his wife Mary Treanor in the town of Donagh in Monaghan, on 2 February 1876.
She married William Coutts, a gold and silver engraver and former solider from Haddingtonshire, Scotland. They took their vows in Kent, England in the spring of 1902. The follwing years, Winnie gave birth to two sons, William was first on October 2, 1902 and Neville Leslie came into this world later in 1908.
In early 1912, William senior decided the family should immigrate to the United States and he went ahead, after which he raised enough funds to book Second Class passage for his family to join him. Yet, Minnie booked Third Class berths on Titanic to save money. She boarded the ship with her two sons William and Neville on April 10th in Southampton, England. At the time she was 36 and her two boys were 9 and 3.
On the night of April 14, a small judder was felt by Minnie but she kept on sleeping as it hadn't really disturbed her. Fifteen minutes later there was a lot of rumors on the hallway so she got up to take a look at what all the fuzz was about, but saw nothing. She was waiting untill her patience was done and located two lifebelts, which wasn't enough but at least she made sure her boys were ready to evacuate and dressed them warmly. When getting out again, a crew member guided her up when she felt a bit lost.
The family could initially find no way to gain access to the Boat Deck and were on the verge of giving up hope when a crewman spotted them and said: "Hurry now, all women and children to the lifeboats", and led the family to the Boat Deck. They escaped on lifeboat 2, after she had to persist in getting William onboard with him, she had an argument when the seaman in charge who thought he looked older than 9, confused by William's straw hat.
After the Carpathia had taken them aboard and brought them to New York, they were reunited with William in Brooklyn. After the happy reunion in New York, the Couttses moved to Maplewood, New Jersey.
Minnie was widowed in 1956 and then lived with her son Neville gving interviews about her experiences as late as 1957. She passed away on February 29, 1960 at the age of 84. Cremation followed.