Titanic survivor sells mementos to pay for nursing care

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 9:55pm

I find this story so sad.

Titanic survivor sells mementos to pay for care







By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writer Thu Oct 16, 3:46 PM ET

LONDON - Millvina Dean was only 2 months old when she was wrapped in a sack and lowered into a lifeboat from the doomed Titanic. Now 96, the last survivor of the tragic sinking is selling mementos of the disaster to help pay her nursing home fees.

Rescued from the bitterly cold Atlantic on that April 1912 night, Dean, her 2-year-old brother and her mother were taken to New York with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Before returning home to England, they were given a small wicker suitcase of donated clothing, a gift from New Yorkers to help them rebuild their lives.

Now, Dean is selling the suitcase and other Titanic mementos to help pay her nursing home fees. They are expected to go for $5,200 at an auction of Titanic memorabilia Saturday in Devizes in western England.

Among the items are rare prints of the Titanic and letters from the Titanic Relief Fund offering her mother one pound, seven shillings and sixpence a week in compensation.

But the key item in the sale is the suitcase, said auctioneer Andrew Aldridge. "They would have carried their little world in this suitcase," he said Thursday.

Dean has lived at Woodlands Ridge, a private nursing home in the southern city of Southampton — Titanic's home port — since she broke her hip two years ago.

"I am not able to live in my home anymore," Dean was quoted as telling the Southern Daily Echo newspaper. "I am selling it all now because I have to pay these nursing home fees and am selling anything that I think might fetch some money."

A spokeswoman for Woodlands Ridge said Dean was too tired Thursday to speak to The Associated Press.

She said rooms at the nursing home cost between $1,000 and $1,550 a week, depending on the level of care the resident needs, but declined to discuss Dean's situation, saying it was a private matter.

Although Britain has a free health care system, private providers offer more comprehensive services for a fee. In the case of nursing homes, state-run facilities are available and cost much less than private ones. But they are more spartan and offer fewer amenities, such as shared rooms and no private TVs.

Local authorities often pay a portion of the costs of private nursing home care based on an individual's assets; anyone with more than $39,000 in assets has to pay their own fees.

In 1912, baby Elizabeth Gladys "Millvina" Dean and her family were steerage passengers emigrating to Kansas City, Mo., aboard the Titanic.

Four days out of port, on the night of April 14, 1912, it hit an iceberg and sank. Billed as "practically unsinkable" by the publicity magazines of the period, the Titanic did not have enough lifeboats for all 2,200 passengers and crew.



For the rest of the article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081016/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_titanic_survivor

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 10:04pm

That is very, very sad. What a shame.

[Q]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 10:08pm

I've got to agree.

No, we don't need to re-evaluate our priorities - not at all.

*sigh*

[Mamie]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 10:25pm

I used to be a member of the Titanic Historical Society. They worked very closely with Ms. Dean (and a handful of other survivors - many of whom have now passed) and I can't imagine them allowing this to happen. I'll bet you there will be a number of them there for the auction and it will bring in more than they're expecting.

(At least I hope so!)

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 10:48pm

Updated On: 1/12/09 at 10:48 PM

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 11:15pm

LePetiteFromage, I could not agree more. My best wishes to Ms. Dean.