ONE OF OVER 2,208 PASSENGER & CREW STORIES - ELEANOR WIDENER (née Elkins), BORN SEPTEMBER 21, 1861
Among the wealthiest of Titanic’s passengers was Eleanor Elkins Widener, wife of George D. Widener. A daughter of traction line magnate William L. Elkins, she led a privileged life in the highest circles of Philadelphia Society. Along with her husband and son, Harry Elkins Widener, she was returning to the United States in one of the most luxurious first-class suites on the maiden voyage of Titanic.
On the night of the disaster, the Widener family hosted a dinner in honor of Titanic’s Captain Edward J. Smith. Following the dinner, she retired to her stateroom while her husband and son hobnobbed with other wealthy men in the first-class smoking salon. When Titanic struck the iceberg, Mrs. Widener entered a lifeboat along with other wealthy women. Her husband and son were lost in the sinking.
Following Titanic, Mrs. Widener presented Harvard University with a $2 million library as a memorial to her son, a graduate of that institution. She also rebuilt St. Paul’s Protestant Episcopal Church near Philadelphia in tribute to her husband.
In 1915, Eleanor married explorer Alexander Hamilton Rice and accompanied him on a number of explorations. In 1920, she traveled farther up the Amazon River than any white woman had ever been. Her party was savagely attacked by cannibals and killed two of them in the skirmish.
Eleanor also owned a lot of costly jewelry, including a rope of pearls valued at $750,000, which her first husband gave her as a Christmas present. Another strand of pearls, valued at $250,000, was lost on Titanic.
Eleanor Elkins Widener Rice died of a sudden heart attack in 1937 while shopping in Paris, France.
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