This past week, we took advantage of a rare opportunity to visit “Titanic: Treasures from the Deep”, a traveling exhibit of artifacts presented by Country Financial. The weather was suitably chilly, which put us in the proper frame of mind to visit treasures from the shipwreck in the Atlantic where the steamship Titanic hit an iceberg and sank during her maiden voyage in 1912.
Part of the exhibit allowed us to be photographed in front of a backdrop of the Grand Stairway in the Titanic. Okay, the photo is a little cheesy. However, the gentleman who portrayed Captain Smith was outstanding and identical to the real captain of the Titanic, who had embarked on his last voyage before retirement. My hubby and I gladly stepped back in history, as long as we could safely step back into the present again.
Foremost on my mind was the story of Margaret Brown, later known to the world as Molly Brown, who survived the wreck in a lifeboat. As pivotal as this event was to her, there was so much more that made hers a full and interesting life. Mrs. Brown was the subject of my biography, “Unsinkable: The Molly Brown Story”. This exhibit was a modified version of one which I was able to visit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science last year. As was done previously, we were handed boarding passes with the names of actual passengers on the Titanic as we entered the display. At the end, lists of survivors were displayed. Fortunately, our names were among the living. However, this was an excellent interactive tool to bring the gravity of the tragedy to the forefront. Talk about an unsinkable experience!
“We are ALL passengers on the Titanic.”
— Jack Foster, Irish Philosopher
Joyce Lohse, 5/3/09
www.lohseworks.com
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about “Unsinkable: The Molly Brown Story”