Thamīm Tannūs in 1912
Thamīm Tannūs was a young, 16 year old woman at the time she took voyage on Titanic.
Early life[]
Thamīm Khūrī was born 25 December 1895 in Hardīn, Syria, then part of the Ottoman Empire but now belongs to the Lebanon. Her parents were Ilyās Khūrī and Sufīyah Riyād Hassī. She had one sister: Ilmose Khūrī. She was born before Thamīm somwhere between 1889-1894.
In 1910, Thamīm married Iskandar Tannūs. The latter's brother Bashīr Tannūs, later known as Charles Thomas, had migrated to the USA, but for this special occasion, Charles, with wife and kids, came over to Hardīn.
Iskandar wanted to settle in the same place as his brother Charles in the United States. The two brothers therefore then returned to the United States, leaving their respective families in Hardīn with the intention of bringing them over in due time. Iskandar changed his named to Alexander Tannous when he became a US citizen.
Thamīm gave birth to a son on November 8, 1911. She named him As'ad. Soon after that, Alexander asked his brother Charles to fetch his wife Thamīm and infant son to return with them to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He did so and his brother Charles traveled all the way back to Syria. From there, a long journey brought them to Marseille. At the border of Southern France, many foreigners where checked for their health. The Tannūs/Thomas family didn't have any issues.
Titanic[]
She boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg with her 5 month-old son As'ad and her brother Charles. Travelling as Third Class passengers, Thamīm and her son held ticket No. 2625, priced £8, 10s, 4d. Various members of Thamīm's family were also on this ship: they were her cousins Amīnah Mubārik with her sons and Sīlānah Yazbak with her husband Antūn Mūsà Yazbak. It's possible that she shared a cabin with a distant cousin from Zghartā, Manturah Mūsà Būlus Franjīyah.
On the night of April 14, 23:40 P.M. Charles, who heard the thud when they hit the iceberg, quickly went to Thamīm's room and told her to get warm clothes on and to wrap the baby up warmly. "Something is wrong and we are needed on deck," he told her. When they got to the deck, people were everywhere and lifeboats were being filled. One of the men in charge tried to put Thamīm on a lifeboat but she was hysterical and did not want to leave her brother. It was very confusing & frightening since she did not speak English. Charles translated that she must go without him. She still refused. In the chaos someone put her in the life boat and lowered it before she could get baby As'ad from her brother. She was nearly out of her mind crying for him and her brother,
Because Thamīm and her son now had become separated, Charles carried the baby to lifeboat 16. He begged for the child to be rescued and Second Class passenger Winnie Troutt took it upon herself to take the child with her into the lifeboat. Meanwhile Thamīm boarded another lifeboat; most likely no. 14 or C. Charles sadly didn't make it. The Carpathia came at 4:00 A.M. to pick up all of those that remained. Later in the morning, she was finished with this task and headed in the direction of America.
Thamīm and her infant As'ad were hospitalized in New York after arriving there on the rescue ship on April 18. She had to be there because of the effects of shock and she was frantic over the loss of her baby, who was delivered there by Miss Troutt. Luckily, mother and child were later reunited. When she was fired from their care, she was reunited with her husband Alexander.
Later life[]
Thelma Thomas, as Thamīm Tannūs was now called, in her later years.
Thamīm changed her name to 'Thelma Thomas' like her husband had done and remained in Wilkes-Barre for the rest of her life. She gave birth to nine more children: Sadie was the first to arrive in 1914, then came Edward in 1916, followed by Sarah Ann in 1919, Helen in 1921, Joseph in 1923, Mae in 1925, Peter in 1927, Marjorie in 1930 and Jean in 1932.
She had to experience much grief in 1931 when her son As'ad died at the age of 19. Fortunately, she and her husband were well-supported to overcome this ordeal. The couple continued to operate a produce store. In her vicinity she had gained fame for having been in the Titanic disaster and she would always stress how upset she had become by the screams of the dying people in the icy waters, which gave her occasional nightmares.
She was widowed in 1938. Alexander was only 46 and it was a busy life for Thamīm, who had to look after 10 children and run a produce store at the same time. She also took part in very small reunions with other survivors from her area, namely Leah Aks, Selena Cook and May Futrelle.
Thelma was on the screenset of the Titanic movie 'A Night to Remember' in 1958 which was based on the similar named book written by Walter Lord.
Edwina McKenzie-Troutt, the savior of her baby and Thelma Thomas came into contact later in the 1970's after NBC's 'Today Show' had an interview with McKenzie who told about the baby for the first time in her life. After a lot of research, the manager of said radio station that had broadcast this interview, arranged a phone call between the two women. They never met in person but kept writing eachother as well as giving calls.
Thelma had developed a bit of a fear for water and didn't want to go near anything as small as a pond.
Thelma Thomas died on 7 January 1974 in Wilkes-Barre, where she had spent most of her life. She was 78 years old when she passed.
Three of her children are still alive today. Mae, one of the three, loves to talk about her mother's experience. She said her mother never went near any place that had water in her life, not even a lake.