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Lillian Gertrud Asplund

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Lillian Gertrud Asplund Famous memorial

Birth
Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts, USA
Death
6 May 2006 (aged 99)
Shrewsbury, Worcester County, Massachusetts, USA
Burial
Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts, USA GPS-Latitude: 42.2388976, Longitude: -71.8332433
Plot
lot 48 section 1
Memorial ID
View Source
"RMS Titanic" Disaster Survivor. She is credited at her death as being the last American survivor of the sinking of the famed "RMS Titanic" on April 15, 1912. Throughout her life, she staved off its accompanying publicity. She was only five years old when the ship went down in the North Atlantic. Her father, Carl, a Worcester laborer, had returned the family to Sweden in 1907 to settle his father's estate and care for his mother. Traveling third-class on their return to the United States in 1912, she lost her father and three brothers, of which one was her fraternal twin, when the ship struck an iceberg and sank. She recalled being handed down into a descending lifeboat. The image of her father holding her twin and two other brothers haunted her throughout her life, and she refused to give interviews about the ordeal, or her life in general. Her mother, Selma, and brother, Felix, also survived the Titanic sinking. They died in 1964 and 1983, respectively. She died in her sleep at her Fairlawn Circle Home in Shrewsbury at the age of 99. The Swedish-American was bedridden for most of the last four years, spent mostly with her Kenyan caregiver. She had worked as a clerk at State Mutual Life Insurance Company in Worcester before retiring in 1971 to enjoy her hobby of gardening. She had no immediate relatives or children and never married.
"RMS Titanic" Disaster Survivor. She is credited at her death as being the last American survivor of the sinking of the famed "RMS Titanic" on April 15, 1912. Throughout her life, she staved off its accompanying publicity. She was only five years old when the ship went down in the North Atlantic. Her father, Carl, a Worcester laborer, had returned the family to Sweden in 1907 to settle his father's estate and care for his mother. Traveling third-class on their return to the United States in 1912, she lost her father and three brothers, of which one was her fraternal twin, when the ship struck an iceberg and sank. She recalled being handed down into a descending lifeboat. The image of her father holding her twin and two other brothers haunted her throughout her life, and she refused to give interviews about the ordeal, or her life in general. Her mother, Selma, and brother, Felix, also survived the Titanic sinking. They died in 1964 and 1983, respectively. She died in her sleep at her Fairlawn Circle Home in Shrewsbury at the age of 99. The Swedish-American was bedridden for most of the last four years, spent mostly with her Kenyan caregiver. She had worked as a clerk at State Mutual Life Insurance Company in Worcester before retiring in 1971 to enjoy her hobby of gardening. She had no immediate relatives or children and never married.

Bio by: Always with Love



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  • Maintained by: Find a Grave
  • Originally Created by: Always with Love
  • Added: May 15, 2006
  • Find a Grave Memorial ID:
  • Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14296145/lillian_gertrud-asplund: accessed ), memorial page for Lillian Gertrud Asplund (21 Oct 1906–6 May 2006), Find a Grave Memorial ID 14296145, citing Old Swedish Cemetery, Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts, USA; Maintained by Find a Grave.