Courtesy of Michael A. Findlay, USA
Miss Marjorie Newell, 23, was born on 12 February 1889 in Lexington, Massachusetts the daughter of Arthur Webster Newell and Mary E. Greeley.
Marjorie was returning from a trip to the Middle East with her father and her sister, Madeleine Newell. They boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg. The two sisters occupied cabin D-36, their father was in D-48.
On April 14th Marjorie was awakened by a sudden vibration. Her father came to the room and ordered his daughters to dress and go out on deck. After seeing one lifeboat safely launched, he placed them in the next1.
"That Titanic lifeboat went down only half-full and Marjorie and a college student (man) helped row it." See Titanic Sisters: The Newell girls
Marjorie Newell married Floyd Robb in 1917, and raised four children (three daughters and one son). Her son was named Arthur Newell Robb in memory of her father. She went on to become a music instructor at Wells College in Aurora, N.Y. Between 1920 and 1950, she lived in South Orange, N.J., where she taught violin and piano. She eventually became one of the founders of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Mrs Robb later returned to Massachusetts living first in Westport Point and moving to Fall River in 1990.
In her final years, after her mother and sisters had passed away, Marjorie began to speak of the night to remember. At the incredible age of 97, she addressed audiences of Titanic researchers and historians and regaled them with her memories of the Titanic's final hours. "I'll never forget the screams of the drowning. It was absolutely terrible." She would lose her composure and close her eyes as she looked back in her past. Her reason for speaking about the event was done mainly out of respect and honor for her lost father. His final moments and bravery never left Marjorie's memory.
Courtesy of Michael A. Findlay, USA
She passed away quietly in her sleep on 11 June 1992, at the age of 103. She was the last remaining first-class survivor of the Titanic and was buried with her family at the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. She left a son who lived in Westport point, three daughters, among them Madeline Crowley of Portola Valley, Calif., and Marjorie Snow of Little Compton, R.I.; and 13 grandchildren.
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