May 8, 2006,
3:54AM
Last U.S. survivor of Titanic dies
By ANDREW RYAN
Associated Press
BOSTON - Lillian Gertrud Asplund, the last
American survivor of the sinking of the Titanic
in 1912, has died at 99.
Asplund, who was just 5 years old, lost her
father and three brothers — including a
fraternal twin — when the "unsinkable" ship went
down in the North Atlantic after hitting an
iceberg. |
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She died Saturday of
natural causes at her home in Shrewsbury, said Ronald
Johnson, vice president of the Nordgren Memorial Chapel
in Worcester.
Johnson said she instructed relatives to keep quiet
about what she saw and even asked that the disaster not
be mentioned in her obituary.
Asplund's mother, Selma, and another brother, Felix, who
was 3, also survived the Titanic sinking on April 15,
1912.
Asplund was the last Titanic survivor with memories of
the sinking, but she shunned publicity and rarely spoke
about the events.
At least two other survivors, both British, are living,
but they were too young to have memories of the
disaster.
The Asplund family had boarded the ship in Southampton,
England, as third-class passengers on their way back to
Worcester from Sweden, where they had spent several
years.
Asplund never married and worked at secretarial jobs
most of her life. She retired early to care for her
mother, who was described as having never gotten over
the tragedy.
Selma Asplund died on the 52nd anniversary of the
sinking in 1964 at age 91. Felix Asplund died March 1,
1983, at age 73.
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