Lillian Asplund

Infobox_Person | name = Lillian Asplund
othernames = Lillian Gertrud Asplund
birth_date = birth date|1906|10|21|mf=y
birth_place = Worcester, Massachusetts
death_date = death date and age |2006|5|6|1906|10|21|mf=y
death_place = Shrewsbury, Massachusetts
parents = Carl Asplund and Selma Johansson
relations = Filip, Clarence, Carl (twin) and Felix Asplund

Lillian Gertrud Asplund (October 21 1906 – May 6 2006) was the last American survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912. Having been five years old at the time, Lillian was the last living survivor with actual memories of the sinking.

Biography

Early life

Asplund was born on October 21, 1906 in Worcester, Massachusetts to a Swedish immigrant family father Carl Oscar Vilhelm Gustafsson Asplund and mother Selma Augusta Emilia Johansson. Lillian had a twin brother, Carl Edgar, and two older brothers; Filip Oscar, born in 1898 and Clarence Gustaf Hugo, born in 1902. A fourth brother, Edvin Rojj 'Felix', was born in 1909.

In 1907, Lillian's father had taken his family to Småland, Sweden to help his widowed mother settle problems with the family farm. By early 1912, the family was ready to return to the United States, and Lillian's father booked passage for his family aboard the Titanic.

Aboard Titanic

Lillian and her family boarded the Titanic at Southampton, England on April 10, 1912 as third-class passengers. Lillian was five years old at the time and recalled that the Titanic "was very big, and it had just been painted. I remember not liking the smell of fresh paint". [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/26/AR2006072601280_5.html]

When the Titanic struck the iceberg at 11:40pm on April 14th, Lillian's father woke his sleeping family and then put all important papers, including cash, into his pocket. Lillian, her mother and brother, Felix, were loaded into Lifeboat No. 15. Lillian later recalled, "my mother said she would rather stay with him [my father] and go down with the ship, but he said the children should not be alone. [My mother] had Felix on her lap and she had me between her knees. I think she thought she could keep me a little warmer that way."http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/26/AR2006072601280_5.html] She later described the ship sinking as looking "like a big building going down."

Lillian, her mother and brother were rescued by the RMS Carpathia, which had arrived at the scene shortly after four o'clock in the morning. Lillian and her brother were loaded into burlap bags and hoisted to the Carpathia's deck. Once on the Carpathia, Lillian remembered:

A woman took all my clothes off me. My clothes had gotten very dirty and wet in the lifeboat. My mother was trying to find me. She was saying, 'I have a daughter!' Well, she found me. And eventually my clothes were dry, and I put them back on. They took us, the children, to the place where they take people who are sick. Well, not sick, but people who needed a little more attention. The people on the Carpathia were very good to us." [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/26/AR2006072601280_5.html]

The Carpathia arrived in New York City, New York on April 20th and Lillian's mother took her and her brother to Worcester shortly thereafter. Lillian's father and brothers, Filip, Clarence and Carl, did not survive the sinking. Only her father's body was recovered and was later buried in a Worcester cemetery.

In the confusion after the disaster, a Worcester newspaper reported that both Mr. and Mrs. Asplund had been saved, along with Clarence, Lillian and Felix, and that Filip and Carl had drowned. [cite web | url=http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/item/2901/ | title=Two of the Asplund Children are Lost | date=April 19, 1912 | work=Worcester Telegram | accessdate=2007-04-14] A later report said that Selma and her "two babies" had been taken to a local hospital, and that Mr. Asplund and Clarence were apparently at another location. [cite web | url=http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/item/2877/ | title=Mrs Asplund and children safe in hospital at N.Y. | date=April 19, 1912 | work=Worcester Evening Gazette | accessdate=2007-04-14 ] A final report confirmed that neither Carl, Sr. nor Clarence were among the survivors. [cite web | url=http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/item/2902/ | title=Four of the Asplunds are Titanic Victims | date=April 20, 1912 | work=Worcester Telegram | accessdate=2007-04-14]

Later life

Lillian's mother refused to discuss the disaster with anyone, telling Lillian that it was simply wrong to do so. Lillian agreed with her mother and throughout the rest of life hardly ever spoke of the disaster. Lillian's mother died on April 15, 1964, the 52nd anniversary of Titanic's sinking, and her brother, Felix, with whom Lillian lived, died in 1983. After her death, the steamship ticket she had held for so many years was sold at auction. [AP. [http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Britain-Titanic-Auction.html?scp=2&sq=titanic&st=nyt "Titanic ticket belonging to last US survivor auctioned,"] "New York Times." April 19, 2008.]

Death

Lillian died in her home in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts on May 6, 2006 at the age of 99. She was buried in All Faiths Cemetery in Worcester alongside her father, mother, and brother.

Lillian's death left two living survivors; however, both were less than one year old at the time of the sinking. With her death, first hand passenger experience of the disaster passed out of living memory.

References

External links

* [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/08/us/08asplund.html?fta=y Lillian Gertrud Asplund, 99, Who Survived the Titanic's Sinking, Is Dead]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/26/AR2006072601280_5.html Recalling the Last Titanic Survivor]
* [http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-05-07-titanic-obit_x.htm Final American survivor of Titanic disaster dies] (includes photo of Asplund)