An honorable guest at a Titanic presentation Part 1

Sorry for the one day delay. I want to post daily. I had a post prepared yesterday, but my thoughts were with what we experienced yesterday. And yesterday was just a plain exhausting day, so I waited until this morning to share our experience at a Titanic presentation at that library.

Rutabaga began having an interest in the Titanic when she read about it in the Magic Treehouse Series. She vaguely remembers it being called "A Night on the Titanic". Since reading that book, we have taken her to the Titanic exhibit in Branson, MO when on vacation. Then from our homeschooling connections, we found out about this free presentation at one of our county libraries.

Here is the description as was e-mailed from our county library:

The program is called "Sinking of the Titanic." The woman who is speaking is associated with a museum that deals with this subject exclusively, and she is VERY knowledgeable. She'll be dressed in period costume (1912) and bring a number of artifacts with her. She plans to talks about the people and the times when the incident occurred as well as the incident itself. Some of the most prominent people of the day were traveling in first–class including millionaire John Jacob Astor IV , industrialist Benjamin Guggenheim, Macy's owner Isidor Straus and many others. She'll also discuss the ship's builder, Thomas Andrews (who was on board), and the safety recommendations that were largely disregarded. Plus, she'll be accompanied by a gentleman whose mother and grandmother survived the accident (though his grandfather was lost) and will share his family memories.

SINKING OF THE TITANIC
The sinking of the Titanic on its 1912 maiden voyage has fascinated maritime historians for years. Famous for its luxurious appointments and unsinkable design, Titanic's passengers were a mixture of the wealthiest persons alive and the poorest of immigrants packed into steerage.

At this free program, researcher Denise Vanaria will share insights from survivors' firsthand accounts and the ship's designer Thomas Andrews Jr., as well as artifacts from the ship and its passengers.

Denise will appear in authentic dress from the Edwardian time and will display authentic period wardrobe that has appeared in Titanic-related films and on stage. Frank Goldsmith, whose grandmother and father survived the tragedy though his grandfather was lost, will share family memories when he appears as a special honored guest

This is our experience!

A woman dressed in authentic (vintage--the real deal!) Edwardian dress as the first class women would have worn to dinner on the Titanic. EVERYTHING she wore was authentic. Though admittedly, she didn't mention her underdressings nor did we ask. However, everything we could see was the real deal including the "rats" in her hair. I may have misunderstood the names for the things that helped women of the early twentieth century get those really poofy and formal pinned up hair. But whatever it was--the "poof" creators were the real deal. Her jewelry, her gloves, everything down to the black floor-length beaded gown with train. It was as if though we were with a Titanic passenger.

She introduced a gentleman from the Orlando Titanic Museum who gave us some basic information about the voyage and what happened of course.

The fascinating part those was when we met the gentleman who was the son and grandson of a passenger. This is a paraphrase of the story that he told. It gave me shivers to here a story from someone who KNEW someone on that boat. This was a first for me and the kids and as the decades pass, these opportunities become fewer and far between. The last survivor is 96 years old and lives in a nursing home in England. So we recognize this precious opportunity. (Okay, I recognize it--the kids several times stated they were bored, but maintained their manners. They are more "touchy feely" kind of kids--so listening to a story wasn't so much as interesting as looking at pictures and holding a piece of the deck from the Olympic.)

Forgive me as I don't recall with a photographic memory all the details that Mr. Goldsmith shared. But these are the highlights.

Mr. Goldsmith's father was 9 years old when he sailed on the Titanic. He sailed with his mother and father. The prior year, they lost a little brother (I think that is correct) to diphtheria. At some point they decided to relocate to the United States and the 9 year old's grandmother is to have ask the family (according to family legend) why in the world they would want to move to the US where everyone lives in mudhuts. Evidently she only heard stories of the Native Americans and the plains and did not know of the big city life in New York, Boston and Detroit where the Goldsmith family was headed. Apparently there was no convincing her.

It was known all through Mr. Goldsmith's life that his Father and grandparents were on the Titanic. His grandfather was lost in that disaster while his grandmother and father of course survived. But that is all that was known. It was part of family history but NEVER spoken about. Mr. Goldsmith's father would always get depressed every March/April as the anniversary passed each year. The last words of his father to him as he got in the lifeboat was "I'll see you soon, Frankie." Frank clung to those words even after it was no longer possible for his father to be alive even if he had survived. He died in 1982 (I believe) just a few years before they found Titanic.

I'm sorry that I don't remember the age of Mr. Goldsmith--it was either college or age 33 as he mentioned 2 ages and I had 3 kids I was minding. In any case--he was in the kitchen with his grandmother one day. Remember that this story was NEVER spoken about. She gave an interview when there was interest in speaking to here as the years passed around the anniversary. But that was it. Nothing. Until this one day that Mr. Goldsmith just happened to ask about it. She spent the next hour and a half telling him her story. She died 3 weeks later of a heart attack and Mr. Goldsmith's siblings never got to "hear" it. He didn't think to tape record it. And because of this last opportunity, he was able to share a first person perspective of his loved ones on that ship.


The 9 year old Frank (I think that was his name) was a playful child in his youth. They arrived with excitement to the Titanic. Once the family boarded and settled into their stateroom he was off to play with the other 3rd class boys. He apparently made lots of friends and he and those boys quickly went off to explore the ship. And as, I suppose, as many pre-teen boys of that time do--they found a little trouble as well.

The boys found the cables/hoists that lifted the heavy goods onto the Titanic and little Frank was dared to slide down one (or climb one, I don't recall how Mr. Goldsmith said he got onto it). When the dare was completed, little Frank reported back to his 3rd class cabin and his parents and...got into a little bit of trouble. For days after, his hands were SCRUBBED vigorously daily to remove that grease. Mr. Goldsmith is convinced that his Father still had grease on his hands when he was hoisted to sea in the lifeboat.

Suffice it to say, Frank had a bit of fun on that ship.