Wednesday marks 112 years since the maiden voyage of the Titanic. Days later, it would hit an iceberg and sink.
Descendants of one of the survivors came to a ceremony at the Titanic travelling exhibit at Old Orchard Mall in Skokie, which has just been extended to July 7.
“My grandma was really just a grandma. She did not talk about the Titanic,” said Linda Schwenzfeier, granddaughter of Bertha Lehmann. “Her whole life, she would not get on another boat.“
Cousins Linda Schwenzfeier and Randy Luhrs came from Minnesota for the ceremony. Their grandmother, Bertha Lehmann, survived the Titanic as a 17-year-old immigrating to Iowa.
“The ship is hit. She initially thought it didn’t sound like much. She looked outside and said well, nothing happened and went back to bed,” said Randy Luhrs, Lehmann’s grandson.
Lehmann later woke up to people shouting, but she didn’t speak English.
“One of the orchestra members who did speak French, communicated with her and told her to go get her jacket,” Luhrs said. “The orchestra member helped her get her life jacket on and guided her to one of the last lifeboats that were lowered.”
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The creative producer behind the exhibit said it's meant to convey the messages of hope for those that were boarding the ship.
“I think it speaks to all of us. It started out with such hope, such optimism. It was a practically unsinkable ship. It was going to change the world,” Mark Lach said.
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Lach says we can learn lessons from the Titanic 112 years later, including the danger of overconfidence.
“Even the recent dive to the Titanic where that submersible didn’t make it. A good friend of mine was inside that submersible,” Lach said, who also went on a previous submersible to the Titanic wreckage.
“We always have to be cautious and we always have to remember how fragile life can be.”
Chicago had its own sinking disaster in 1915, when the Eastland rolled over on the Chicago River, killing 844 people.
Randy Luhrs and Linda Schwenzfeier’s grandmother was among about 700 survivors from the Titanic.
“She came very close to not getting off that ship. So, we wouldn’t be here. Randy and I wouldn’t be here if she hadn’t,” Schwenzfeier said.
“We’re very fortunate that the orchestra member, knowing he was not going to make it, took the time to help her for her to survive,” Luhrs said.
