Titanic Survivor Sells Her Mementos

Now this is a SAD story. Millvina Dean was only 2 months old when the Titanic went down. She was wrapped in a sack and lowered into a lifeboat. Now she is 96, the last survivor of the tragedy and she is having to sell mementos to help pay her nursing home fees.

That April l912 night, she and her 2 year old brother and mother were taken to New York with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They were given a small wicker suitcase of donated clothing. This was a gift from New Yorkers to help them rebuild their lives. Now she is selling the suitcase and other Titanic mementos to help pay her nursing home fees. They are expected to bring $5,200 at an auction of Titanic memorabilia tomorrow in western England.

Some of the items are rare prints of the Titanic and letters from the Titanic relief Fund offering her mother one pound, seven shillings and sixpense a week in compensation. I don't know how much that is in American money, but it doesn't sound like much. She broke her hip two years ago and couldn't live in her own home anymore. Rooms at the nursing home cost between $1000 and $1550 a week depending on the level of care a resident needs.