Millvina Dean
Elizabeth Gladys “Millvina” Dean is now 97 years old and is the last living survivor of the RMS Titanic. She was two months old on April 15, 1912, the youngest passenger on board was put on a lifeboat, together with her brother and mother. Their father was drown together with the ship.
The Titanic
Millvina Dean is now in failing health due to the broken hip. Dean’s ongoing care costs monthly around $6000 and this forces her to sell some of her prized Titanic memorabilia in order to pay for her private medical care at a nursing home in Southhampton in England. Among those possessions was a letter that her mother received from the Titanic Relief Fund and a suitcase that was given to her mother in New York after the Titinic’s sinking.
Bertram and Millvina Dean
In May 2009 the Millvina Fund was set up by Don Mullan, a photographer for a newspaper in Northern Ireland. He contacted James Cameron, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, the director and co-stars of the film Titanic, who ended up donating $44,000 to pay Dean’s bills and provide continued support.
A statement by Winslet and DiCaprio said, “We are honored to contribute to the Millvina Fund. Our hope is that others will feel inspired by Millvina Dean’s remarkable story of survival, and we hope that she can rest easier in knowing that her future will become more secure through this fund.”
Millvina Dean
According to Mullan, those who originally purchased Millvina Dean’s memorabilia have returned the items to her. Mullan said:
“An old woman, still trying to survive, this time from drowning under the weight of meeting her nursing home expenses, simply wasn’t right, especially given the enormous sums of money the story of Titanic had generated in the recent past. There were people out there who could, and I felt, morally should, help her. To fail Millvina Dean, the last tangible living link to the Titanic, would make a mockery of the world’s expressed concern for the tragedy.”
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May 28th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
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