Millvina Dean, believed to be the last survivor of the Titanic, has died at 97, her friends confirmed Sunday.
Dean was just an infant when the RMS Titanic — publicized as “practically unsinkable” and the largest passenger steamship at the time — struck an iceberg on the night of April 14, 1912, during its maiden voyage from Southampton in southern England to New York. The ship sank less than three hours later, killing more than 1,500 people.
Brian Ticehurst, a friend of Dean, said she died at 8 a.m. Sunday.
Dean was hospitalized a few days ago for medical complications before returning to the Woodlands Ridge Nursing Home in Southampton, said Charles Haas, a friend and president of the Titanic International Society based in New Jersey.
A nurse at the home declined to comment on Dean’s passing.
Haas said Dean’s last public appearance was at the British Titanic Society’s convention in April, which she attended with her longtime companion, Bruno Nordmanis.
“She only visited a short while, but she wowed everybody with her charm,” Haas told CNN. “She seemed in good spirits.”
Haas noted that Dean’s death fell on May 31, exactly 98 years after the Titanic was launched.
While Dean’s survival brought her celebrity-like status in some circles, she was 8 years old before she knew she was on the fateful ship. Dean, along with her young brother and mother, survived the sinking of the Titanic, but her mother didn’t tell her about it until years later, Haas said.
Although she didn’t have memories of the historic and tragic event, Dean, who never married or had children, became a larger presence for Titanic enthusiasts and historians over the past three decades.
“Having gone through that disaster she was given extra years and an extra dose of vitality,” said Haas, who recalled escorting Dean to a Titanic society gala a few years ago.
Dean became the last known Titanic survivor after Barbara Joyce Dainton died in October 2007. The last American survivor, Lillian Asplund, died in May 2006.
Dean’s death leaves only artifacts and videotaped interviews with survivors to “speak to us about the Titanic,” Haas said.
Archive for the ‘Titanic Video’ Category
Last known Titanic survivor dies
10.20
Blockbuster Video Online Versus Redbox
09.08
There have been many stories in the news about how the number of Red Box locations has surpassed the number of Blockbuster locations. Does this mean that Red Box will take over the DVD rental market and become the dominate player? More than likely not due to several things working in blockbusters favor.
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The first is the addition of Blockbuster video online to its offerings of products. It is a DVD rental club that allows its users several different monthly rental plans. Several of the plans offer unlimited DVD rentals. Now comparing this to Red Box, you have to pay every time for a DVD rental. For some consumer this just doesn’t make sense because their movie renting addiction far exceeds the cost using Red Box and are better off going with a monthly plan for a flat fee.
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The second is that Blockbuster video online offers options that were not available to consumers when Red Box was just starting. The first is in-store exchanges. This is something Blockbuster has on their other online competition as well. An in-store exchange has two important points of competition for Redbox. The first is the fact the convenience of Redbox was it gave the consumer the ability to find movies several different locations for just a dollar. With Blockbuster video online consumers have the option of a flat fee for all the rentals they would like, which often is less than a dollar a movie, but still have the convenience of a local location to exchange a movie. The second is the completely visible locations of Blockbusters in their home town. To find a Redbox can be difficult without using the internet or knowing where they are already.
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The third is the selection that Blockbuster video online offers. Redbox is somewhat limited to the number of titles offered. There are usually newer movies and boxes can often be sold out of a specific movie. American consumers have always wanted more selection and Blockbuster video online boasts over 80,000 titles in their library. Selection is important because at any one given time no consumer wants to see every movie in a Redbox and might be limited to only a handful of those available. Given an extensive library a consumers will be able to find several hundred movies they will definitely want to see. Furthermore, a genre like classics might never be available through Redbox because of the focus on the latest DVD rentals on the market.
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Now, this isn’t to say that Redbox will go out of business or has a poor business model. They have there place in society. Blockbuster video online is just offering far more options with some of same convenience of Redbox.
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The Titanic and life: Heroic acts in unseen places
08.25
On a frigid Sunday night in 1912 the Titanic came to the end of its ill-fated voyage. The ship that “God Himself couldn’t sink” was fatally wounded after colliding with an iceberg.
Onboard were John Harper and his daughter. After ensuring his child was safe in a lifeboat, Harper went back on deck to help others board the rafts to safety. He called out, “Women and children and the unsaved into the lifeboats first.”
In a final heroic act he gave his lifejacket to another passenger, then descended into the icy water. Sometime later a survivor floating in the ocean passed by Harper who called out, “Are you saved?”
When the man said he didn’t believe in God, Harper shared, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved.” The men then drifted out of one another’s sight.
Later they floated by one another again. Harper called out, “Are you saved now?” The man again replied that he didn’t believe in God. Harper said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”
These were Harper’s final words before he slipped beneath the ocean’s surface and passed into eternity.
We know the story because the other man survived, later being picked up by a lifeboat. He would share, “Shortly after he went down, and there, alone in the night with two miles of water under me, I believed.”
It was Nelson Mandela who powerfully shared, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?’ Actually, who are you not to be?
“You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
“It’s not just in some of us; it’s in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
The greatness Mandela spoke of resided in John Harper, whose selfless acts are truly inspirational. In like manner, that same greatness dwells in you and me as children of God. So let us not play small; may we instead let our light shine brightly as a beacon of hope to all we come in contact with.
Jesus said that some of the most heroic acts are feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, and caring for the lonely. We can all make a difference in big and small ways. It just takes living with love, hope and an unsinkable faith.