Miss LAURA MARY
RYERSON, Saloon Class Passenger
image
credit: Phyllis Ryerse
Laura Ryerson, 23, and her mother Mary Amelia
were wealthy Canadians
from Toronto, Ontario. Laura's father George was cousin of Arthur
L.
Ryerson of Haverford, PA, who died on the Titanic. Laura and
her mother were on the Lusitania
to attend to the
death of a brother who was killed in battle and to help the other
brother recover
from being shelled. They were booked into cabin D-55, paid $310
on 27 April. George Ryerson was already overseas, having
taken
the Lusitania in April.
Mary and Laura were in the lounge taking coffee with Leonard McMurray
and Reginald Lockhart when the ship was struck with a "jarring
noise."
The men then escorted the ladies to the port side to wait for the
boats. They were lowered in lifeboat
#14, but the boat capsized as it tried to pull away from the ship. Mary
Amelia was lost. Laura did not bother to get back into the
swamped lifeboat and swam for a raft. She found Reginald Lockhart
there and they were rescued hours later.
Laura continued to live with her father till she married John
Galbraith. She had three children and died on 21 December 1943 at
York Mills, Ontario at age 52.
Contributors:
Paul Latimer
Michael Poirier
Phyllis Ryerse
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