Ruth Elizabeth Becker (October 28, 1899â¯âÂÂâ¯July 6, 1990) was one of the last survivors of the RMS Titanic disaster. Born in British India to American missionary parents, she boarded the Titanic in 1912 with her mother and siblings en route to the United States to seek medical care for her younger brother. During the sinking on Aprilà15, 1912, Becker was separated from her family but survived.
Later in life, she became a schoolteacher and lived a quiet life. Only after retirement did she begin to speak publicly about her experience aboard the Titanic. After her death, her ashes were scattered at sea above the wreck site as per her wishes.
Ruth Becker was born on October 28, 1899, in Guntur, British India. Her father, Allen Oliver Becker, was a Lutheran missionary, and her mother was Nellie E. Becker (née Baumgardner). She had a younger sister, Marion, born in 1907, and a younger brother, Richard, born in 1910. Another sibling, Luther, was born in Ohio in 1905 but died in India in 1907.
In 1912, Richard fell seriously ill at 1ý years old and needed medical treatment in the United States. While Allen Becker remained in India, Nellie Becker traveled to the U.S. with her children.
On the morning of Aprilà10, 1912, in Southampton, England, Ruth, her mother, brother, and sister boarded the Titanic as second-class passengers. Ruth later recalled the ship, saying their cabin was, in her words, âÂÂvery much like a large, new hotel room⦠with a bed for each of us and a washâÂÂbasin for our toilette.â She described the second-class dining room as luxurious, its chairs fixed to the floor, and the menu as wellâÂÂstocked, with seating served in two sittings at 6â¯pm and 7â¯pm. She also remembered pushing Richard in a pram supplied by the White Star Line.
The voyage proceeded smoothly until around midnight on Aprilà14, 1912, when the ship struck an iceberg and began sinking. The Beckers reached the boat deck about an hour later. Ruth returned to their cabin to fetch blankets and was subsequently separated from her family. Richard and Marion, along with their mother, boarded Lifeboatà11, while Ruth was placed in Lifeboatà13 by an officer who carried her aboard. That boat was nearly crushed by Lifeboatà15 during lowering and stopped just 60â¯cm away. Onboard, she heard crew members playing what she believed to be the hymn Nearer, My God, to Thee.
In the lifeboat, Ruth distributed blankets to fellow passengers and comforted third-class passenger Leah Aks, promising to help find her baby who was on another boat. At dawn, survivors were rescued by the RMS Carpathia. Onboard, Ruth helped Leah Aks search for her child until she was reunited with her own mother. The Beckers were eventually reunited, and Leah Aks found her son safe in LifeboatÃÂ 11.
The Carpathia arrived in New York on AprilÃÂ 18, 1912. The Beckers disembarked amid crowds of reporters; Nellie Becker encouraged the public to ask Ruth directly about the events.
Ruth pursued her schooling in Ohio and Kansas, later marrying classmate Daniel Blanchard and having two children. The couple divorced after 20 years, and Ruth worked as a schoolteacher.
Her mother, Nellie, never fully recovered mentally from the tragedy, and became estranged from Marion. When Nellie died in 1961, her will left everything to Richard and named Ruth as executor.
Richard Becker married twice and died in 1975.
Ruth rarely spoke about the Titanic until retirement, when she began attending Titanic Historical Society events.
In 1990, she took a cruise to MexicoâÂÂthe first time she had sailed since the Titanic. She died on Julyà6, 1990, at age 90, and her ashes were scattered at sea over the wreck site of the Titanic, echoing the burial wishes of officer Joseph Boxhall and passenger Frank Goldsmith.