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U.S. survivor of 'Titanic' dies at 99
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published May 8, 2006
BOSTON - Lillian Gertrud Asplund, the last American survivor of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, has died, a funeral home said Sunday. She was 99. Ms. Asplund, who was just 5 years old, lost her father and three brothers, including a fraternal twin, when the "practically unsinkable" ship went down in the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg. She died Saturday at her home in Shrewsbury, said Ronald E. Johnson, vice president of the Nordgren Memorial Chapel in Worcester, Mass. "She went to sleep peacefully," he said. Ms. Asplund's mother, Selma, and another brother, Felix, who was 3, also survived the Titanic sinking in the early morning of April 15, 1912. Ms. Asplund was the last Titanic survivor with actual memories of the sinking, but she shunned publicity and rarely spoke about the events. At least two other survivors are living in England, but they were too young to have memories of the disaster. Barbara Joyce West Dainton was 10 months old and Elizabeth Gladys "Millvina" Dean was 2 months old.
[Last modified May 8, 2006, 08:12:00]
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