WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 2021
AN OMINOUS ANNIVERSARY!
It was April 14th, 1912 when the RMS
Titanic struck an iceberg on its maiden
voyage claiming the lives of some 1500
people. My close interest in the story began
in 1972 when I interviewed a survivor, Mrs.
Thelma Thomas from Wilkes-Barre. Little
did I know that interview would get me
directly involved with the story! Mrs. Thomas
and her infant son were being escorted to
America by her brother in law, Charles. After
the ship struck the iceberg she became separated
from Charles who was carrying her baby boy!
For days she believed they both had perished.
Charles did lose his like in the sinking but
managed to hand the infant to a woman in a
lifeboat. Mrs. Thomas was reunited with her
chiled at a hospital in New York City. She
spoke of hearing the band play till just before
the end and of hearing the horrible screams of
those dying in the water. On the 60th anniversary.
tye day my interview was to air, I saw an English
woman, Mrs. Edwina Trout Mckenzie, on the
Today show. She also recalled the band and the
screaming. But then she told the interviewer that
while she was in a lifeboat somebody handed her
a baby. I called NBC and told of Mrs Thomas'
infant son being handed to a woman. They got
Mrs. Mckenzie on the phone with Mrs. Thomas.
Mrs. Mckenzie remembered the blanket. SHE
had saved Mrs. Thomas' son that night and I
had solved a then 60 year old Titanic mystery!
Ironically the two never met in person. They
spoke by phone and wrote to one another but
Mrs. Thomas passed away about a year later.
Each Titanic victim and survivor has a story
and you'd be surprised how many of those
stories strike close to home! Hope you're
well and that all your NEWS is good!
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