Lillian Gertrud Asplund, last American Titanic survivor, 99
Posted: Sunday, May 7th, 2006 2:17 pmThe last American to remember seeing hundreds of fellow passengers drown in the icy North Atlantic when the Titanic sank 94 years ago has died at age 99, a funeral home spokesman said on Sunday.
Lillian Gertrud Asplund was returning home to the United States from Sweden with her parents and four brothers when the ship, believed to be “unsinkable,” struck an iceberg on April 12, 1912. …
A lifetime resident of Massachusetts, Asplund was an intensely private person who shunned all publicity surrounding the disaster…
The funeral home spokesman said she instructed relatives to keep quiet about what she saw and even asked that the disaster not be mentioned in her obituary.
The two last Titanic survivors are said to be living in England but both women were infants when they were rescued and have no memories of that disastrous night, Titanic experts say.
Asplund lost more than half her family in the accident when her father and three brothers stayed behind as crewmen rushed the young girl, her younger brother and their mother into a lifeboat. … Read full obituary
