Born Ellen Mary Mockler.
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Titanic Survivor.
Helen was born in County Galway, Ireland. Currafarry, the little village where "Ellie" was born, is an out-of-the-way spot near the town of Ballinasloe, where she spent a happy girlhood with a loving and energetic family. It was a hard place to make a living, as many generations from the village were to realize. It was a place to launch forth for greener pastures. Along with two other women and three young men from her hometown, Ellie ventured into the larger world, in her words, "for the adventure of it". She was the last of the three sisters to leave home and parents, whom she would never see again. Sisters Bridget Lynch and Marie Bradley, who paid Ellie's steamship fare, would be waiting in America, where Ellie claimed she "was coming to make my fortune". With scant baggage she ferried out to Titanic from Queenstown on April 12th, and remembered spotting the golden letters spelling out the name of the ill-fated vessel as her tender came alongside. On Sunday night Ellie was walking out on deck in steerage when she recalled, "…the whole ship shook. We knew something was wrong but nobody told us what." She had a memory of the chickens escaping from the kitchens and running around on deck. "no one seemed to be worried then, and one woman was playing the piano." Suddenly concerned about her few paltry possessions back in the cabin, Ellie started to go back to her room but was stopped by a man on deck who said, "Forget your bag- if you save yourself you'll be lucky!" She continued, "Many passengers stayed below deck-nobody told them to come up.""Everyone was calm on the ship-no one knew what was happening." At one point they all knelt on the deck to say the Rosary. She remembered two priests on deck giving absolution. Finally someone approached the three women to get into the boat. Ellie balked at going over the side in the dark. "Is there a bottom to it?"she asked nervously. As she crawled over the side she looked back at the three countrymen, still kneeling on the deck-all were lost. Once in the boat, she bobbed about on the ocean until dawn with those saved in the boat having to constantly bail the leaking craft out with their hands until the Carpathia arrived. She spent the cold night clad only in her dress and a life vest. "It was a very cold night, we watched the Titanic sink until the last light went under the water. Then everything was calm and smooth. You wouldn't even have known there had been a ship. The two men in the lifeboat rowed during the night. We didn't see any other lifeboats. If the band played Nearer My God to Thee, I never heard it."Ellie was listed as among the missing when the sad news reached New York. The sisters sent for the parish priest when they believed their sister drowned. "I don't believe that—we're going to pray," cried the priest. Then he urged the sisters to get their coats and hats and accompany him down to St. Vincent's Hospital where survivors were being examined prior to being released to their families. The priest entered the makeshift ward, stood on a chair and called out "Ellie Mockler, if ye be in this room, will ye stand up and wave!" Ellie promptly popped up and one of her sisters fainted in a heap on the floor. Later she would remember the party given by the New York City police department on the Sunday after the rescue, right after Mass. Ellie worked for the National Biscuit Company for five years in the New York area, enjoying the company of her nieces, nephews and sisters before getting the call to her religious vocation. "Her experience aboard the Titanic and just after had nothing to do with her decision to enter the Sisters of Mercy," said one of Ellie's convent friends. She entered the order of the Sisters of Mercy, Worcester, Massachusetts in 1917 and took her final vows in 1925, becoming Sr. Mary Patricia. Of her 67 years as a Religious in Worcester, 34 were spent in the sacristy of St. Paul's Cathedral. In later years, Sister Patricia, with good humor, indulged anyone who came to ask her about Titanic, giving herself the title of "The Tourist Attraction". She loved a good cup of strong tea and a trip on Saturday to McDonald's for an order of fries. She suffered from angina in the 1970s, and when the end came at last, it would be on the 95th anniversary of her birth. She passed away on an April Sunday, spared by God's grace from another April Sunday long before in 1912.∼Original name Ellen Mary Mockler. She was travelling from her native Ireland to a new life in New York City on the Titanic. Her friend Thomas Kilgannon, who was lost, gave her his sweater as she was entering a lifeboat, a sweater which kept her warm throughout the cold night. (Nine years later she travelled back to Ireland and gave the sweater back to Thomas's mother Mary.) Her survival was also aided by their friend Martin Gallagher, who led a group of third-class passengers up to the deck of the ship and through a hatchway. Martin also was reported to have put lifebelts on the women in this group and to have lifted them over a railway that divided steerage from the upper-class cabin areas. Sadly, initially Ellen was not listed among the survivors, and when her father back in Ireland heard this, he had a heart attack and died. Some time after her arrival in the United States, Ellen found comfort in joining a convent. She took the veil under the name Mary Patricia. She passed away on her 95th birthday.
Born Ellen Mary Mockler.
--------------
Titanic Survivor.
Helen was born in County Galway, Ireland. Currafarry, the little village where "Ellie" was born, is an out-of-the-way spot near the town of Ballinasloe, where she spent a happy girlhood with a loving and energetic family. It was a hard place to make a living, as many generations from the village were to realize. It was a place to launch forth for greener pastures. Along with two other women and three young men from her hometown, Ellie ventured into the larger world, in her words, "for the adventure of it". She was the last of the three sisters to leave home and parents, whom she would never see again. Sisters Bridget Lynch and Marie Bradley, who paid Ellie's steamship fare, would be waiting in America, where Ellie claimed she "was coming to make my fortune". With scant baggage she ferried out to Titanic from Queenstown on April 12th, and remembered spotting the golden letters spelling out the name of the ill-fated vessel as her tender came alongside. On Sunday night Ellie was walking out on deck in steerage when she recalled, "…the whole ship shook. We knew something was wrong but nobody told us what." She had a memory of the chickens escaping from the kitchens and running around on deck. "no one seemed to be worried then, and one woman was playing the piano." Suddenly concerned about her few paltry possessions back in the cabin, Ellie started to go back to her room but was stopped by a man on deck who said, "Forget your bag- if you save yourself you'll be lucky!" She continued, "Many passengers stayed below deck-nobody told them to come up.""Everyone was calm on the ship-no one knew what was happening." At one point they all knelt on the deck to say the Rosary. She remembered two priests on deck giving absolution. Finally someone approached the three women to get into the boat. Ellie balked at going over the side in the dark. "Is there a bottom to it?"she asked nervously. As she crawled over the side she looked back at the three countrymen, still kneeling on the deck-all were lost. Once in the boat, she bobbed about on the ocean until dawn with those saved in the boat having to constantly bail the leaking craft out with their hands until the Carpathia arrived. She spent the cold night clad only in her dress and a life vest. "It was a very cold night, we watched the Titanic sink until the last light went under the water. Then everything was calm and smooth. You wouldn't even have known there had been a ship. The two men in the lifeboat rowed during the night. We didn't see any other lifeboats. If the band played Nearer My God to Thee, I never heard it."Ellie was listed as among the missing when the sad news reached New York. The sisters sent for the parish priest when they believed their sister drowned. "I don't believe that—we're going to pray," cried the priest. Then he urged the sisters to get their coats and hats and accompany him down to St. Vincent's Hospital where survivors were being examined prior to being released to their families. The priest entered the makeshift ward, stood on a chair and called out "Ellie Mockler, if ye be in this room, will ye stand up and wave!" Ellie promptly popped up and one of her sisters fainted in a heap on the floor. Later she would remember the party given by the New York City police department on the Sunday after the rescue, right after Mass. Ellie worked for the National Biscuit Company for five years in the New York area, enjoying the company of her nieces, nephews and sisters before getting the call to her religious vocation. "Her experience aboard the Titanic and just after had nothing to do with her decision to enter the Sisters of Mercy," said one of Ellie's convent friends. She entered the order of the Sisters of Mercy, Worcester, Massachusetts in 1917 and took her final vows in 1925, becoming Sr. Mary Patricia. Of her 67 years as a Religious in Worcester, 34 were spent in the sacristy of St. Paul's Cathedral. In later years, Sister Patricia, with good humor, indulged anyone who came to ask her about Titanic, giving herself the title of "The Tourist Attraction". She loved a good cup of strong tea and a trip on Saturday to McDonald's for an order of fries. She suffered from angina in the 1970s, and when the end came at last, it would be on the 95th anniversary of her birth. She passed away on an April Sunday, spared by God's grace from another April Sunday long before in 1912.∼Original name Ellen Mary Mockler. She was travelling from her native Ireland to a new life in New York City on the Titanic. Her friend Thomas Kilgannon, who was lost, gave her his sweater as she was entering a lifeboat, a sweater which kept her warm throughout the cold night. (Nine years later she travelled back to Ireland and gave the sweater back to Thomas's mother Mary.) Her survival was also aided by their friend Martin Gallagher, who led a group of third-class passengers up to the deck of the ship and through a hatchway. Martin also was reported to have put lifebelts on the women in this group and to have lifted them over a railway that divided steerage from the upper-class cabin areas. Sadly, initially Ellen was not listed among the survivors, and when her father back in Ireland heard this, he had a heart attack and died. Some time after her arrival in the United States, Ellen found comfort in joining a convent. She took the veil under the name Mary Patricia. She passed away on her 95th birthday.
