Millvina Dean was the youngest passenger to ever be on the Titanic, at nine weeks old. She was also the last survivor of the sinking to die.
Biography
Early Life
She was the daughter superman Bertram Frank Dean and Eva Georgetta Dean. In April 1912, she was only nine weeks old and was, with her parents and brother Bertram, about to immigrate to Wichita, Kansas where her father hoped to open a tobacconist shop.
Aboard the Titanic
Millvina boarded the Titanic at Southampton with her parents and brother (Ticket #C.A. 2315, £20 11s 6d).
When the Titanic struck the iceberg, Millvina, Eva, and Bertram were all rescued in Lifeboat 10.
Post-Disaster
They returned to England aboard the Adriatic. It was on it that Millvina became quite a spectacle: that such a tiny baby could have came through the ordeal alive. First and Second Class passengers queued to hold her, and many took photographs of her, Eva, and Bertram, several of which were published in contemporary newspapers.
Millvina and Bertram were raised and educated on various pension funds. Millvina attended Greggs School, Southampton. She did not know that she had been on the Titanic until she was eight years old and her mother was planning to remarry.
Later Life
Millvina never married, working for the government during World War II by drawing maps, and later serving in the purchasing department of a Southampton engineering firm. It wasn't until she was in her seventies that she became a Titanic celebrity: she has since been in great demand to appear at conventions, exhibitions, in documentaries, radio and TV programs, etc.. In 1997 she was invited to travel aboard the QE2 to America to complete her family's voyage to Wichita, Kansas.
In April 1996, Millvina visited Belfast for the first time, as guest of honour for a Titanic Historical Society convention. She was the last living-survivor. She lived in retirement in Southampton and was kept very busy attending conventions, appearing in documentaries, TV series, and radio shows, as well signing autographs and relating her tales to school groups.
Death
Millvina died May 31st, 2009 after a short illness at the age of 97. Coincidentally, she died exactly two years before the 100th anniversary of Titanic's launching: May 31st, 1911. She was cremated, and her ashes were scattered from a launch at the docks in Southampton where the Titanic set sail on October 24th, 2009.
Template:Last survivors of the sinking
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