A gathering honors postal worker lost with Titanic

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.lohud.com/article/20120414/N ... st-Titanic" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

GREENBURGH — The century-old story of the Titanic – an epic that no amount of books or movies can seem to capture – has its quieter subplots in moments like the graveside gathering Saturday in Mount Hope Cemetery.

Bonnie Stephenson had come from Florida to set a wreath atop the gravestone bearing her grandfather’s name, William Logan Gwinn. She’s still discovering the story of his death aboard the ship April 15, 1912, and of the wife he was rushing home to see.

Gwinn worked on the ship as a mail clerk, and was a veteran of the Spanish-American War. He was memorialized Saturday by veterans from his regiment, the 71st Infantry of the New York National Guard, along with a U.S. Postal Service representative, local officials and two descendants who had never met.

“We never did this as a family,” Stephenson said. “We never had a tribute.”

Three American and two British mail clerks died in the disaster, and none of their remains were recovered. The gravestone at Mount Hope is part of a plot honoring veterans from the regiment from the Civil War onward.

In the family, Gwinn was remembered more for his service on the front lines of Cuba than for his death, said Alan Gwinn, who had come from Bethel, Conn. Alan Gwinn’s grandfather was a brother of William Gwinn.

At the U.S. Postal Service, Gwinn is remembered as someone who carried that sense of duty to the very end, said John Dirzius, representing the American Postal Workers Union.

“RMS Titanic stans for Royal Mail Steamer. It was a mail boat,” he told the group. “When the iceberg hit … the first thing they did was to go down to the mail room, which was on the bottom deck, and they began to haul mail sacks.”

Gwinn was returning to Asbury Park, N.J., because his wife, Florence, had fallen ill. They had lived in Brooklyn and moved to the shore in hopes that the air would help her recover. They had a son, Thurston, who was 3 when the Titanic sunk. Their daughter Marjorie, Stephenson’s mother, was 5 months old.

After Gwinn’s death, Florence moved to Long Island to live with her parents, and there she remained. “My grandmother taught piano lessons, was a librarian, and never remarried,” Stephenson said.

Letters between her grandparents, discovered at a garage sale in Brooklyn, have since revealed Florence’s romantic side, and her devotion to her husband, Stephenson said.

“Of course my mother grew up with no father,” she said. “I often wonder what her life would have been like if that eventful day didn’t happen.”

[stokes11eg]

Sad story, but it's nice he is remebered.

[Lounge Lizard]

“RMS Titanic stans for Royal Mail Steamer. It was a mail boat,” he told the group. “When the iceberg hit … the first thing they did was to go down to the mail room, which was on the bottom deck, and they began to haul mail sacks.” Same sense of dedication today, if the Delivery Office caught fire our first thought would be to get all the mail outside safely.

[fishtank]

if the Delivery Office caught fire our first thought would be to get all the mail outside safely.

Is that a manager i see legging it in the opposite direction?
I can't see the mail...it must be in his pockets.

[Lounge Lizard]

if the Delivery Office caught fire our first thought would be to get all the mail outside safely.

Is that a manager i see legging it in the opposite direction?
I can't see the mail...it must be in his pockets.

And the postie on the right has rescued his coffee.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

if the Delivery Office caught fire our first thought would be to get all the mail outside safely.

Is that a manager i see legging it in the opposite direction?
I can't see the mail...it must be in his pockets.

And the postie on the right has rescued his coffee.

Or a manger that has grabbed the first coat on evacuating.

[Lounge Lizard]

if the Delivery Office caught fire our first thought would be to get all the mail outside safely.

Is that a manager i see legging it in the opposite direction?
I can't see the mail...it must be in his pockets.

And the postie on the right has rescued his coffee.

Or a manger that has grabbed the first coat on evacuating.

So only a manager would think they needed a coat when there's a roaring fire.