Ruth Becker

Infobox Person
name = Ruth Becker Blanchard


image_size = 160px
caption = Ruth Becker as a girl, ca. 1912
birth_name =Ruth Elizabeth Becker
birth_date = birth date|1899|10|28
birth_place = Guntur, India
death_date = death date and age|1990|7|6|1899|10|28
death_place = 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. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Screams, Then Sea's Silence, Still Haunt 5 Survivors Of Titanic. |url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50F10FD3A5D0C7B8DDDAD0894DA484D81&scp=2&sq=Ruth+Becker+titanic&st=nyt |quote=Out of a night so cold that ice crystals formed "whiskers around the lights," as old sailors put it, over the dark waters and across 70 years, the screams still haunt these five survivors, aging men and women for whom the nightmare of the sinking of the Titanic is ... |publisher=New York Times |date=April 18, 1982, Sunday |accessdate=2008-04-11 ]

Biography

Early life

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.cite web |url=http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/biography/341 |title=Ruth Elizabeth Becker |accessdate=2008-04-11 |quote=Mrs Allen Oliver Becker (Nellie E. Baumgardner), 36, boarded the Titanic at Southampton. she was travelling with her children Ruth, Richard and Marion from Guntur, India to Benton Harbour, Michigan. |publisher=Encyclopedia Titanica ] [ [http://www.hinduonnet.com/2004/04/15/stories/2004041502012400.htm The Hindu: The Titanic survivors from Guntur] ] cite web |url=http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/biography/344 |title=Nellie E. Becker |accessdate=2008-04-11 |quote=Miss Ruth Elizabeth Becker, 12, boarded the Titanic at Southampton. She was travelling with her mother Nellie, brother Richard and sister Marion from India to Benton Harbour, Michigan. |publisher=Encyclopedia Titanica ]

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.

"Titanic"

Twelve year old Ruth boarded the "Titanic" along with her mother and siblings 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." 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 No. 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 No. 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. Allen finished his missionary work in India and joined his wife and children in 1913.

Career and marriage

Ruth attended high school in Ohio and graduated from Wooster College and became a high school teacher in Kansas and later taught 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.

Later life

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.

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.

Death

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. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Ruth Blanchard Dies. |url=http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/item/329/ |quote=Ruth Becker Blanchard, a survivor of the 1912 sinking of the Titanic, died Friday at home in Santa Barbara. She was 90. |publisher=Santa Barbara News-Press |date=July 8, 1990 |accessdate=2008-04-11 ] Frank Goldsmith and Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall also had their remains scattered over the "Titanic"'s final resting place. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Titanic Today: Exhibition of Titanic Artifacts - The Salvage Controversy |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-16805706.html |quote=On April 16, 1994, the ashes of Titanic survivor Ruth Becker Blanchard were cast over the area by a USCG chaplain, where they will join Fourth Officer Boxhall and Frank Goldsmith, also Titanic survivors who requested they be returned to the sea where hundreds of people perished. |publisher= |date= |accessdate=2008-06-02 ]

References

External links

* [http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org Encyclopedia Titanica Biography]