American Essence

‘Where You Are, Papa, I Shall Be’: A Story of Loyalty and Love From the Titanic

American millionaires Isidor and Ida Straus shared their birthdays, their lives, and their deaths.
‘Where You Are, Papa, I Shall Be’: A Story of Loyalty and Love From the Titanic
A detail of Isidor and Ida Straus on the cover of sheet music "The Titanic's Disaster," 1912, by Solomon Small and Henry A. Russotto. Johns Hopkins University. Public Domain
Jeff Minick
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After Isidor and Ida Straus’s deaths, Isidor’s cousin Mrs. Samuel Bessinger said: “Theirs was the love of husband and wife so beautiful among old couples who have weathered life’s storms together. Two more devoted lovers could scarcely be found.”
Around 11:40 on the night of April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and began sinking. As the ship went down in the early morning hours of April 15, a number of passengers aboard the lifeboats that allowed an escape from certain death observed 67-year-old Isidor Straus and his 63-year-old wife, Ida, together on the ship’s deck. After interviewing many of the survivors, the New York Tribune published this account of their final moments:
Jeff Minick
Jeff Minick
Author
Jeff Minick has four children and a growing platoon of grandchildren. For 20 years, he taught history, literature, and Latin to seminars of homeschooling students in Asheville, N.C. He is the author of two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust on Their Wings,” and two works of nonfiction, “Learning as I Go” and “Movies Make the Man.” Today, he lives and writes in Front Royal, Va.