| Ruth Becker Blanchard | |
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Ruth Becker as a girl, ca. 1912 |
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| Born | Ruth Elizabeth Becker October 28, 1899 Guntur, Madras Presidency, British Raj (now in Andhra Pradesh, India) |
| Died | July 6, 1990 (aged 90) Santa Barbara, California |
| Spouse | Daniel Blanchard |
| Parents | Allen Oliver Becker Nellie E. Baumgardner |
Ruth Elizabeth Becker (October 28, 1899 – July 6, 1990) was one of the last remaining survivors of the sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912.[1]
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She was born on October 28, 1899 in Guntur, India, to American Lutheran missionary Allen Oliver Becker and his wife Nellie E. Baumgardner. A younger brother, Luther, was born in Lima, Ohio, in March 1905, but died in Guntur just before his second birthday on February 7, 1907. In December 1907, Nellie gave birth to a second daughter, Marion Louise, and a son, Richard, was born in June 1910 at Kodaikanal.[2][3][4]
In early 1912, Richard contracted an illness in India, and Nellie decided to take him and her two daughters to Benton Harbor, Michigan to seek treatment. Allen was expected to join his family the following year.
Twelve-year-old Ruth boarded the Titanic along with her mother Nellie, four-year-old sister Marion and one-year-old brother Richard as second-class passengers on April 10, 1912 at Southampton, England. Shortly after the ship's collision with the iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on April 14, Ruth recalled that a steward told her mother, "We've had a little accident. They're going to fix it, and then we'll be on our way."[2] Realizing that the ship was seriously damaged, Nellie took her children up to the boat deck.
A steward helped load Marion and Richard into lifeboat 11, but would not let Nellie in. It was only after pleading with the steward that he finally consented, but Ruth was not allowed in. Her mother then screamed to Ruth telling her to get in another lifeboat. Ruth later got tossed into lifeboat 13 by Sixth Officer James Moody.
Nellie and her three children were all picked up by the rescue ship RMS Carpathia. Although it was a struggle to find her mother on the ship, Ruth finally managed to. They arrived in New York City on April 18. Soon after their arrival, the Beckers took a train to Benton Harbor, Michigan. Nellie's husband Allen finished his missionary work in India and joined his wife and children in 1913.
Ruth attended high school in Ohio. She graduated from Wooster College and became a high school teacher in Kansas, later going on to teach grade school in Benton Harbor. She married a former classmate, Daniel Blanchard, and had three children but after twenty-three years of marriage, the two divorced.
In the years following the disaster, Ruth refused to talk about her experiences aboard the Titanic and her own children, when young, did not know that she had been on board. After she retired from teaching and had moved to Santa Barbara, California, Ruth began speaking more openly.[2]
In 1982, Ruth joined several other survivors at a Titanic Historical Society convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania commemorating the 70th anniversary of Titanic's sinking. She would attend two more conventions in 1987 and in 1988. In March 1990, Ruth made her first sea voyage since 1912 when she went on a cruise to Mexico.[2]
Ruth died on July 6, 1990 under the name "Ruth Becker Blanchard" in Santa Barbara, California at the age of 90. She was cremated and on April 16, 1994 her ashes were spread over the exact spot in the Atlantic Ocean where the Titanic had sunk eighty-two years prior.[2][5] Frank Goldsmith and Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall also had their remains scattered over the Titanic's final resting place.[2][6]
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