SHREWSBURY – For years, Shrewsbury was home to a person who was a part of one of the greatest nautical disasters the world has ever seen—the sinking of the RMS Titanic in April 1912. Lillian Asplund, who was five years old at the time of the disaster, was not only the last survivor to be living in the United States, but the last survivor in the world that had any recollection of the event.
Two other survivors outlived her, but neither lived in the U. S. and both were too young (ages nine months and 11 weeks) to remember anything about the sinking. Lillian herself was haunted by memories of her mother trying to stay on the ship with her father. Her father insisted she get in a lifeboat with Lillian and her younger brother, while two brothers (one being her twin) stayed with him—he told his wife he would get into a separate lifeboat later. Lillian remembered him waving to them as their lifeboat was lowered. Her father and two brothers all perished, although her father’s body was eventually recovered—he is buried in Worcester’s All Faiths Cemetery.
Lillian never married. From 1951 until her death in 2006 at the age of 99, she lived at 39 Fairlawn Circle in Shrewsbury, along with her mother and younger brother. She worked as a clerk at the State Mutual Insurance Company for many years, and for a time at the former Denholm’s Department Store. The Worcester Historical Museum has a Denholm’s exhibit with one of the displays featuring a pair of Lillian’s gloves.
Throughout her life, she would very rarely speak of the Titanic disaster, even after being offered money to do so. She felt it not only would be disrespectful to the memory of her family but would revive terrible memories. Following her death, her Titanic ticket and a pocket watch carried by her father when the ship sank were auctioned off after being found in her safety deposit box.
