The last living survivor of the Titanic disaster passed away in her sleep on May 31st at the age of 97.
Millvina dean died at a nursing home in southern England.
She was just two months old when her family took her on the ship that was called “practically unsinkable.”
But the Titanic hit an iceberg on her maiden voyage…and sank in the North Atlantic in less than three hours.
Dean and 704 survivors were rescued….but more than 15-hundred others…including Millvina’s father went down with the ship…April 15th 1912.

Ed Kamuda is the founder of the Titanic Historical Society. His father owned the Grand Theatre in Indian Orchard back in 1953…that’s when Ed saw the movie “Titanic” starring Barbara Stanwyck and Clifton Webb.
Ed was fascinated by the story of the ill fated ship…and he began corresponding with some of the survivors. “I wrote letters to over 40 survivors in the 1950’s” says Kamuda…and one of them was Millvina Dean.
“She was a very lively person. At first she was reluctant to talk about the Titanic…but she opened up when she realized how many people were interested in her story.”
Millvina was too young to remember what happened…but her mother and older brother did.
They were saved…when her father Bertram put them all on a lifeboat. Millvina said she was told her father felt and heard the iceberg hit the ship…and his quick reaction to the danger is what probably saved their lives.

Kamuda eventually was able to persuade Millvina to come to a few of the Titanic Historical Society’s annual conventions. One of them was held aboard the Queen Elizabeth II. Kamuda told me: “We went on the bridge of the QE II and the captain of the ship asked Millvina if she wanted to press “the tooter”…the foghorn. At exactly 12noon…Millvina pressed a button…the foghorn bellowed…and the 80 year old Millvina “squealed like a little girl.”
Kamuda says Millvina never thought to cash in on her “Titanic” connection. She lived a quiet life in England…never married…and loved to write. They became friends thanks to a correspondence that started when a young boy in Springfield wanted to find out for himself what happened to the survivors of one of history’s greatest disasters.

Ed Kamuda is going to miss his friend Millvina Dean…as he says…”the last human touch” to that night to remember.

For more on the Titanic Historical Society:
http://www.titanic1.org/