Flower in the River: A Family Tale Finally Told

From Silence to Testimony: Eastland Survivors Speak Out

July 28, 2024 • Natalie Zett • Season 2 • Episode 72

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Explore the gripping tales of the survivors from the Eastland disaster! Episode 72 peels back the layers of history to reveal the human side of this tragic event.

Journey with me as I retrace my great-aunt Martha’s final steps, experiencing eerie sensations and unexpected emotions along the way. You won’t believe what happened at the disaster site!

Uncover the long-lost voices of survivors through newspaper articles. Hear the harrowing accounts of Marie Benes, Willard Brown, Stella Rytir, Meta Otto, Borghild Carlson, and others who lived to tell the tale.

Meet Libby Hruby, the pint-sized survivor with a larger-than-life personality. From her initial reluctance to her later crusade for remembrance, Libby’s story will captivate you.

Explore the fascinating historical context of many of these survivors’ backgrounds. Ever wondered why your ancestors might be listed as “Austrian” when they weren’t? Find out in this episode!

Discover the unsung heroes working nonstop to preserve these stories. 

Don’t miss this episode that brings the Eastland Disaster to life through the eyes of those who lived it. It’s not just about a ship – it’s about the lives forever changed by that fateful day: July 24, 1915.

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Natalie Zett:

Hello, I'm Natalie Zett and welcome to Flower in the River. This podcast, inspired by my book of the same name, explores the 1915 Eastland disaster in Chicago and its enduring impact, particularly on my family's history. We'll explore the intertwining narratives of others impacted by this tragedy as well, and we'll dive into writing and genealogy and uncover the surprising supernatural elements that surface in family history research. Come along with me on this journey of discovery. Hey, this is Natalie, and welcome to Episode 72 of Flower in the River Podcast. I hope you had a good week. Before we get started, I want to say thank you to all of the folks who gave me feedback that you really enjoyed last week's episode, which was a retrospective of all of the episodes that I've done since November, where I feature different Eastland individuals, families and communities. It means a lot that they mean a lot to you, okay, so thank you again. So let's get going with this podcast. Just a few days ago, we marked the 109th anniversary of the Eastland disaster and, although I've said it previously, it's worth repeating that for me, it never has been, and probably never will be about the ship itself. Bear with me on this. So when I began writing about what happened to my family and our history with the Eastland disaster. I thought the disaster for me is the MacGuffin. And what is that? That's an event that starts the wheels of a story in motion or sets them in a certain direction, and it's always revealed in the first act of a play or a film and thereafter it declines in importance. That is how I treated it in my book and also in my other writing. Of course it's there and of course it's a prominent event. But here's the thing the story of the Eastland has been well documented over the years, thanks primarily to George Hilton and his book Eastland Legacy of the Titanic and the commemorations that the Eastland Disaster Historical Society does at the disaster site. That also helps to keep the Eastland and what happened in our consciousness, although I have an interest in the vessel itself, because I too wondered how can such a thing have happened. But it's not my focus. What truly mattered to me back then, when I first learned about it, and what matters to me now, are the lives who were lost or the lives that were changed forever because of this tragedy. I feel compelled to tell all of our stories.

Natalie Zett:

My own journey began on July 24th 1999. That was a while ago, but this was soon after I first learned about my family's connection to the Eastland disaster, and since July 24th of that particular year fell on a Saturday, I thought this will be a great time to go to Chicago and trace my great aunt's steps from her house to the disaster site, to the site of the morgue and the cemetery. I had to compress time because I only was there for a weekend and my friend, a native Chicagoan, had everything mapped out and we headed out early on that Saturday. Everything was looking good. It was a bright, hot day and I thought this is going to be a fantastic thing to do. So the first leg of our journey took us to my great-grandparents' former home in present-day Little Village. We stood there for the longest time. We weren't going to go in there because we probably would have scared those people who are living there now, but I fixated on the door of that tiny workers' cottage and I thought about my great-aunt Martha, just 19 years old, leaving, never to come back home again. Standing there was truly the most surreal and emotional experience I've ever had. Both my friend and I later talked and we were hesitant on how to share this with each other, but both of us, separately and together, sensed a very powerful otherworldly presence, as if we were surrounded by unseen beings, or maybe souls, and to this day I really can't describe what that was like. But we had to pry ourselves away from staring at the home, and we did, and then we kept on.

Natalie Zett:

It wasn't too far of a drive from Little Village to downtown Chicago, so our next stop was the disaster site at Clark and LaSalle. Something even more unexpected happened there. Despite expecting a continuation of the emotional roller coaster, I felt this rising agitation, bordering on anger, and my friend who knows me very well saw that I was very off kilter. She didn't say anything, but she just was very quiet. Well, we walked around the disaster site in silence and we paid our respects by dropping roses into the river. There's my flower-in-the-river title coming to life.

Natalie Zett:

Even on that sweltering July day, I felt chilled to the bone. I told her I wanted to get the hell out of there. What was that? I don't know, but this I did know. It was so strange that I knew that I could not dismiss it. I knew I had to pay attention to this and I've come to see this as a visceral connection to my family's history. I often speculate that I'm maybe sharing this reaction with my grandmother, who had gone to the dock to try to find Martha and later had to go to the morgue to identify her body. Or maybe it was Martha herself not wanting to remember this place, who knows? But I leave the door open to that one because it's quite interesting.

Natalie Zett:

Here's the bottom line. The ship and the disaster are part of my family's heritage because we lost someone that day. But the ship, it's not my primary focus. Instead, I was driven to uncover who my great aunt was and how she lived. It's these personal stories that truly bring this history to life. And, of course, the story has expanded. I want to read to you what I published just this week on the 109th anniversary of the Eastland disaster.

Natalie Zett:

Title A Ticket Exchange that Changed Everything. Things could have turned out differently if my grandmother, a Western Electric employee, had attended the annual picnic on July 24, 1915. But, feeling awful due to her pregnancy, she gave her tickets to her 19-year-old sister, martha Pfeiffer. For Martha, it was a one-way ticket to eternity. And what does that have to do with gratitude? Now being thankful, that's a big deal for me. Now being thankful, that's a big deal for me. Perhaps it was how I was raised as a child. I didn't want to write thank you notes to family and friends who gave me gifts. My mother, who wanted to ensure that she didn't raise a couple of ungrateful miscreants, stood vigil over me, ensuring I completed my task. She'd occasionally lecture while I wrote. She'd say you don't take advantage of people's kindness and generosity ever. Somewhere along the line her lessons stuck and gratitude authentic gratitude, I should say became part of my life. My mother stands over me now in spirit, reminding me that on this day a ticket exchange happened and we all got to live. On July 24, 2024,. I reflect on how different things could have been. Much of my work on my family's history, and now other families' histories, is a long thank you letter to all of them. So let the thank you her continue.

Natalie Zett:

Speaking of George Hilton, I want to read an excerpt from his book Eastland Legacy of the Titanic. In this part he's talking about the plaque that was erected at the disaster site in 1989. That's the context. At the time the plaque was erected, there were believed to be four remaining survivors of the disaster Marie Bennis, 96,. Willard Brown, 90,. Borghild Carlson, 93, and Libby Ruby, 84. Of the four, only Libby Ruby was in a physical condition that allowed her to attend.

Natalie Zett:

As a 10-year-old girl, she had set out upon the excursion with her sister, whom she credited with having saved her from the river. Two other survivors then identified themselves Mrs Ada Woods Watson of Las Cruces, new Mexico, 77, and her brother, robert Woods of New Port Richey, florida, 79. As young children, they had been members of a party of five, all of whom lived through the accident. Another woman, meta I Otto, was identified as an Eastland survivor when she died on July 18, 1989, shortly after the ceremony. Marie Bennis died in March 1991, and Borkhild Carlson died on August 2, 1991. Another survivor, irene Zajic, died on August 4, 1992. As far as is known, the rest remain alive at the present writing in 1992.

Natalie Zett:

Because the survivors were never well documented and because some of them moved from the Chicago area, it is impossible now, as it ever was, to be certain that they have all been identified. As a consequence, we are unlikely to ever know confidently when the last one has died. Nevertheless, there is no prospect that the disaster will be forgotten was so excruciating as to scar the collective memory of the metropolitan area far beyond the power of time to eradicate. Rather, the problem is that the casual explanations—the ship was resting on an obstruction, the tug pulled her over, the passengers surged to port may continue indefinitely. They are now as old as the disaster itself and, although they never had factual support, they have the advantage of being simple in a situation that was actually quite complex. They are non-technical, requiring no inquiry into the stability properties of the ship. Perhaps more important, the casual explanations are non-incriminating in an event that, in retrospect, leaves almost no major figure appearing favorably, save only the harbormaster, the tugmaster and the Eastland's chief engineer. And it hardly need be repeated that the Eastland's chief engineer was the man on whom the catastrophe was ultimately blamed, blamed.

Natalie Zett:

This was interesting to rediscover, because I'd read this way many years ago, and to hear George Hilton get very passionate and emotional about this. That's quite profound as well, and he said something that I thought was so insightful that, because the Eastland catastrophe was in some ways explained away by these simple explanations well, the people crowded to one side. Well, it was raining. Well, whatever, I've heard these other explanations as well. It's easy to not have to deal with it. So I'll let you think about that.

Natalie Zett:

But we have a lot more to go into because I want to talk about some of these survivors that I've mentioned. This is kind of late breaking news, but I wanted to look up one of the people that George Hilton talked about, metta Otto, and I found her obituary. So I want to insert this in the middle of this discussion If it sounds a little off. That's why Meta L Otto, 95, a survivor of the 1915 capsizing of Eastland this is in the Chicago Tribune, july 22nd 1989. This is by Kennan Heiss. Meta L Otto, 95, a retired factory worker, was one of the last survivors of the 1915 Eastland disaster, in which 812 people were killed when the passenger ship capsized in the Chicago River. She will be buried on the 74th anniversary of the tragedy. Mrs Otto, a resident of Elmwood Park, died Wednesday in her home. Services will be held at 11 am Monday at Zohr Evangelical Lutheran Church, 2940 North 75th Street, elmwood Park.

Natalie Zett:

Mrs Otto, who was born in Chicago, was employed at the Western Electric Company plant in Cicero on July 24, 1915, the day she boarded the Eastland as part of a company-sponsored excursion. The ship was docked at the foot of the Clark Street and its crew had emptied the ballast tanks to allow more people to board when many passengers crowded to one side to watch a passing boat. The Eastland turned on its side, trapping many inside and throwing others into the river. Over the years my mother often recalled the tragedy. Florence Otto said she lost many, many friends and neighbors. Whole families were wiped out. She was thrown in the water and had gone down twice. She was on her way down a third time when someone grabbed and rescued her. Mrs Otto continued to work at Western Electric for a short time but then had to quit, her daughter said, because she got married. That was company policy at the time. The daughter said Mrs Otto worked at many different factory jobs over the years, often having to leave when hard times forced plants to close.

Natalie Zett:

Survivors besides Florence include three other daughters, ruth Pearl and Violet Stern, three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. In a sense, this obituary proves George's point about how the disaster was explained very simply and they didn't want to deal with the complexities of the situation. And Borghild Carlson is none other than Bobbi Onstead, who we featured last summer. Well, vis-a-vis interviewing Bobbi's granddaughter, barb Decker-Wachholz You've probably heard that name, barb. Her husband and her sister are responsible for founding the Eastland Disaster Historical Society. And as for Libby Ruby. This is another person I want to talk a little bit about because Libby Ruby needs a lot more attention in what she's been given.

Natalie Zett:

I met Libby at the very first Eastland gathering at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago in the year 2000. Dave Nelson, who I'll talk about, brought her to the event and at that point she was in her 90s and I think this was actually only a few years before she passed away. But she was there, she was all dressed up and she was so small and so lively and so engaging and we talked privately and I remember holding her hand and I said engaging. And we talked privately and I remember holding her hand and I said do you mind if I hold your hand longer? And she said no, I said I just want to hold the hand of somebody who was there on that ship the day my aunt was killed and she said I understand, and I also brought her to life in fictional form in my book and so I wanted to pay homage to her then and now because, again, she should be one of those people who's front and center because of her continual bringing up the Eastland disaster and I want to help her along with that even in the afterlife.

Natalie Zett:

I'm going to read an article. This is from the Chicago Tribune. Date is June 5th 1989. The article's title is Remembering the Eastland Black Honors Victims, heroes of Maritime Tragedy, by Karen Dillon. Marie Bennis, now 96, was sitting at the end of the Eastland. When she noticed the clock hands on the Reed Murdoch building said it was five minutes to eight in the morning. Willard Brown, now 90, was sitting near the pilot house wondering why the boat's captain was acting nervous, chewing on a cigar. Libby Ruby, now 84, was clinging to her sister's hand, trying not to get stepped on by people, trying not to get stepped on by people. Borghild Carlson, now 93, was sitting quote people to people, end quote when she felt the boat lurch and knew we were going somewhere.

Natalie Zett:

On July 24, 1915, the excursion boat Eastland capsized in the Chicago River near the Clark Street Bridge, becoming one of the worst maritime disasters in US history. Although just a few feet from the dock, hundreds of people drowned or were crushed within four minutes. For these four survivors of the Eastland disaster, that day that 812 Western Electric employees, friends and relatives lost their lives found a place in history. Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora commemorated the lives of those who died and those who acted with courage by placing a marker at Clark Street and Wacker Drive. The students from the academy had researched the tragedy. They were shocked to find that no chapters in school history texts and very few books chronicled the disaster that wiped out at least 24 families and devastated the western suburb of Cicero where many of the employees lived, said Bill Stepien, a social science teacher who helped teach the class. Social science teacher who helped teach the class. Although more than 2,500 people boarded the steamship, only a handful are alive today to talk about the disaster. Only one survivor, ruby, was able to attend the ceremony.

Natalie Zett:

Bennis, who was 22 at the time of the disaster, who was 22 at the time of the disaster lives in a nursing home in Wisconsin. Her son, louis Bennis of Des Plaines, had his mother tape record recollections of the tragedy. On that rainy day, bennis, who worked for Western Electric, would lose seven of her girlfriends. Bennis said she remembers sliding down and down into the water and then a force brought me back up. She said her head surfaced, her hands were free, but all around her were picnic baskets and bodies and people and everything.

Natalie Zett:

Bennis was able to grab a life preserver hook Quote. My fingers were all bruised and bloody but I held on to it. People were screaming and crying and here I was finally looking up. There were a couple of men looking down from the side of the ship and we were trying to save ourselves. I said oh please, oh God, help me. The man answered. I got my wife and my child in there. I said oh please, help me, maybe somebody is helping your wife and child. The man laid down on the side up there and reached down and grabbed my hands and hiked me up. Looking down, all I could see was hair and hands and feet and picnic baskets and children crying. I thought I was going to get torn back down. People were just grabbing and holding and trying to get out. My skirt was off, my shoes were off. Skirt was off, my shoes were off, my clothes were torn.

Natalie Zett:

Brown, who was 16 and a Western Electric employee, remembers the boat tipping quote. It made three tips to the dock and then three tips to the river. Terribly slow. It seemed like it took a minute for each tip. When the boat rolled, brown said it was like one big scream and then everything was quiet. I grabbed the handrail I was like a monkey on a bar and headed for the side of the boat. Brown said he watched as men tried to make it to the shore hand over hand, on a rope strung like a fiddle from the boat to the dock They'd make it halfway, lose their grip and go down into the water. People were crushed by pianos and things and people crowding on top of each other.

Natalie Zett:

Ruby was only 10 when the disaster occurred. She was saved by her sister who plucked her from the water. Carlson was hanging on to the side of the ship with her mother and little sister while people were falling in the water all around us. Everything seemed to give way and my mother went down. My uncle was diving around helping people. He just brought a lady up. He dropped her and dove.

Natalie Zett:

I want to pause for a second before reading the next article. What's fascinating about this is that Marie Bennis recorded her memories thanks to her son, louis, and Louis died a few years ago. And I wonder what happened to that transcription? What happened to those tapes? I hope they'll be uncovered someday. A lot of times what I'm finding is things are available but they're not accessible. So I want to continue reading.

Natalie Zett:

This is from the Daily Herald. It is Saturday, july 24th 1993. So this is a few years after the 1989 article. The title of the article is Survivors Recall 1915 Eastland Sinking. The article is by Vicki Speer. She's the Daily Herald staff writer, or she was at that point.

Natalie Zett:

July 24, 1915, was dreary and misty in Chicago, not a day for a picnic. Libby Ruby recalled including Ruby, 10 years old at the time, had boarded the passenger ship Eastland on their way to a Western Electric Company outing. But the passenger ship rolled and sank in the Chicago River before the picnic could begin, killing more than 800 people. Quote we heard these noises from the men on the docks and they said look out, she's tipping. Ruby remembered Ruby, 88, a Cicero resident and fellow survivor. Stella Reiter, 87, of Brookfield, reminisced about the tragedy.

Natalie Zett:

Friday, the eve of its 78th anniversary. Friday, the eve of its 78th anniversary. Wheaton resident David Nelson, who has assembled a collection of Eastland memorabilia, brought the survivors together at his home in memory of the disaster. Both women were on the deck of the doomed ship which, as it turned out, was a fortunate place to be when the Eastlands started to capsize, they were able to scramble to safety.

Natalie Zett:

Ryder, then nine, had boarded the Eastland with her twin sister and uncle, although she could not recall how she and her companions got off the boat. She and her companions got off the boat. Ryder told about how puzzling it was at first when the chair she was sitting in started to move. Ryder said she never spoke until recently of having survived the Eastland disaster. Ruby too, remained largely silent about her experience. Two remained largely silent about her experience. Both women went to work for Western Electric, as did their husbands. Ruby, on the Eastland, with her older sister and brother-in-law, clambered on to the side of the boat when it tipped, waiting there fearing the ship would explode. Ruby could see people trapped in the ship through the portholes which were too small to allow escape. It was an awful sight to see all those bewildered faces, ruby said. Eventually, ruby said a tugboat pulled alongside the ship, allowing her and her family to walk across it to safety.

Natalie Zett:

Nelson remembers stories from another point of view, that of the rescuers. Nelson's deceased grandfather, elmer, cut holes in the side of the Eastland for three days to rescue the hapless passengers. Elmer Nelson received a pin from then Cook County Coroner Peter M Hoffman for his valued services rendered to the coroner Quote. He was always proud that he worked on the Eastland and helped rescue people, nelson said. The pin is part of Nelson's Eastland collection, which also includes postcards, photographs, newspaper clippings and even chairs that once furnished the ship. Now the collection, officially recognized by state officials in 1991 as a museum, is housed in a converted bedroom of Nelson's home, available for viewing by appointment.

Natalie Zett:

We do have Dave Nelson to thank for much of this preservation and for caring for these survivors. I remember again, he was the one who brought Libby to the event in the year 2000. It's really hard, though, to maintain a museum or even any type of historical organization if it's just a small group of people, and in this case I think it was just Dave and his wife that were doing this. So it's very difficult to do, and this is why I always refer people to a place like the Newberry, because they have the space, they have the people, they have the ability to preserve and share this information. But nonetheless, the efforts of people like this are the reason that we have what we have today. And as for Libby, I'll get back to her, because Libby deserves her own segment.

Natalie Zett:

But Stella Ryder I'd never heard of her before. She was not mentioned in George Hilton's book, probably because she did not make herself available or wasn't willing to talk about this until much later, and again, I can certainly understand why somebody would not want to talk about this. I was unable to find out too much about her. She did indeed live in Cicero. She was born actually Stella Brichta, and Stella died in 2003 in Darien in DuPage, illinois, and she's buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Forest Park. That's in Cook County. So I don't know too much about her other than the fact that she was aboard the Eastland and some of the records say that her family was from Bohemia, and I want to talk about that a little bit, because this comes up quite a bit with, well, the Iceland disaster.

Natalie Zett:

But if you have Eastern European relatives, as I do, and they come from different places, you might have seen Bohemia listed on their various records, such as census records or even draft registration records. So in the 1900s, if somebody was from Bohemia, the modern equivalent would be most likely the Czech Republic, specifically the western and central parts of the country. So Bohemia was a historical region in the Austro-Hungarian Empire before it became part of Czechoslovakia. That was after World War I, and in historic records from the late 19th and early 20th century it's also not uncommon for individuals from Bohemia to be listed as being from Austria. That's because, again, bohemia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at that time, and when we're talking about this type of history, people often refer to the larger political entity rather than the specific region or ethnicity within it when they described where they were from. So, for example, stella's father's census records said he was from Austria. Another record said he was from Bohemia, and it just aligns with the historical context of that time. So that's what makes it extra challenging when trying to figure out context for people's lives.

Natalie Zett:

At that point I want to read another article that features Libby Ruby. And oh, I probably should have told you that her last name is spelled H-R-U-B-Y and that is her married name. Her birth name is Libby Cluchina. Libby might have been reluctant to talk about the Eastland prior to the late 1980s, but after that she just took off and kept talking, and she's featured in at least a couple documentaries. I'll give you a link to one of those and she was no shrinking violet. After I read this article, I want to talk a little bit about her life, because she wasn't just somebody who survived the Eastland, she had an interesting life. Again, she was front and center. She liked to be in the newspapers. I can't help but think that if these folks were alive now and well enough to share their stories People like Libby, like Bobby, like Stella, like Marie and like Willard, anyone who survived they might have their own podcast and talk about these experiences. I have the feeling that they would do this because, particularly Libby and, of course, bobby, they wanted to make sure that this did not evaporate from people's memories. This is from the Berwyn Life, cicero, and it is from August 13th 1995.

Natalie Zett:

Eastland Survivor, Cicero Woman Relives Tragedy Libby Cluchina. Ruby of Cicero was 10 years old when she clung to a perch above the waterline of the capsized SS Eastland and watched the valiant but too often futile struggle to save Western Electric Company employees from drowning. Ruby still remembers that terrible July 24,. Ruby still remembers that terrible July 24, 1915, when employees of the Cicero Company merrily boarded the Eastland with family members and friends, bound for a picnic at the Indiana Dunes. But the ship never left the dock. It capsized in the Chicago River, sending 800-some people to their deaths. Now, 80 years later, ruby is comforted that those lost lives were remembered with a ceremony July 24th at Clark and Water Street and that, despite her 90 years, she was able to attend and, after many years of silence, related her story. Ruby still has a very clear picture of what happened that horrible day with her sister Anne Holub and brother-in-law James.

Natalie Zett:

Ruby was lucky enough to have taken seats on the dock side of the ship, the side that went up rather than down in the water when the ship began to list. I don't know how my sister got up on the railing, but she did. Ruby recalled I was already being pushed into the passageway, but I held up my hand and my sister saw it and pulled me toward her. Then somebody boosted me up and in a very few seconds my brother-in-law appeared. I could see the ship was on its side and we were on top of it. We never even got really wet, but we witnessed everything that was happening. It was something you remember all your life All those people in the water trying to save themselves, people crying, screaming, shoving their hands up the portholes, their faces full of anxiety, fire departments, policemen.

Natalie Zett:

Ruby continued. It was about 7.30 and the men were going to work in the surrounding buildings. They stood on the docks yelling look out, it's tipping. Ruby said she was not afraid until people began discussing the possibility that the ship would blow up when the cold water came in contact with the hot engines. Ruby is uncertain how long she and her sister and brother-in-law clung to their precarious perches atop the Eastland. It was a dreary, misty day and when the boat turned over the side was slippery. We must have been there for at least two hours. It seemed such a long time. Then somehow there was a rope leading to the dock and we were told to hold onto it and try to get to the other side of the ship. There we found a tugboat that was tied to the side of the Eastland and each person was gently pulled over to the dock.

Natalie Zett:

After that, ruby and her family simply walked to the elevated train and went home. She said she never thought of asking anyone to drive them home after their harrowing experience. People did not have cars in those days, ruby said, and everyone's principal thought was of getting people out of that ship. Later Ruby recalled hearing that Marshall Fields delivered truckloads of blankets in which to shelter the shivering survivors and wrap the dead. She recalls the newspapers full of pictures of the pitiful sight of those shrouded bodies lined up along the dock waiting delivery to the makeshift morgue in the 2nd Regiment Armory. But after a week or 10 days, ruby said she did not recall ever discussing the Eastland again as an adult. She worked for 12 years at Western Electric. The Eastland was never mentioned. A friend married and Ruby learned only 10 years ago that the husband was an Eastland survivor. It was such a tragedy, ruby theorized, and things are so vivid in your mind that you want to forget. Now she said she is glad that the Chicago City Council organized a ceremony commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Eastland disaster and that she was able to participate. The only Eastland survivor present Quote those people who perished should be remembered. Ruby said there is a satisfaction that someone thinks of them.

Natalie Zett:

Libby Ruby deserves a lot of credit. As I was researching her this week, I found mentions of her in different places, but I didn't find a single tribute page for her. So I will create that. So she has that. And I also wondered what was her life like after the Eastland. Well, I'll tell you a little bit about her background.

Natalie Zett:

Libby was born Libby Cluchina on 4th of January 1905, and she died in 2004. And her mother was Antonia and her dad was John, and they were from Bohemia, as is noted in the census, bohemia, as is noted in the census and she was born into a large family. She lived most of her life in Chicago Cicero, berwyn and after she got married and it appears she got married in the 1940s she and her husband, frank Ruby, would do a little bit of traveling. They went to Paris, for example, in 1961. So Libby got around. One thing I learned about Libby by searching through all the newspaper articles about her is that she and her husband loved to enter contests that were sponsored by newspapers, and occasionally she would win, and so this was a common practice. I know that one of my aunts enjoyed doing that as well, so that was not an unusual thing.

Natalie Zett:

Once she got her footing, once she started to gain momentum and realized that the newspapers could provide a platform for her, she was in the newspapers a lot, and so I have a rather amusing article. This is from the Chicago Daily News, may 22nd 1950. And it shows who Libby was in the context of her time, and it also shows us how things have changed, or rather how our tastes have changed. Nothing about the Eastland. This looks as if it's in the women's section of the paper. Did you know papers used to have women's sections and they would discuss things like recipes and children and schools etc.

Natalie Zett:

Headline do you have these recipes? Can any of you readers help these women? The best recipes received will be printed. Who has a recipe for baked prune whip with a custard sauce that they could send us? Mrs L Cosmond is an avid reader of the Trading Post and hopes that one of you other readers will be able to help her. Still another request for a recipe. This is from Libby Ruby, who is eager to locate a crunchy or flaky coffee cake, one that's similar to Danish pastry, and it goes on and on and on. But this is the kind of interaction that she had with the newspapers.

Natalie Zett:

So I think by the time the 80s rolled around, she was already comfortable with being featured in newspapers, and the Eastland story was just one other aspect of her life. As mentioned, she worked for Western Electric. She married Frank Ruby. They never had children. She married Frank Ruby, they never had children.

Natalie Zett:

So when she died, well, there's some confusing aspects about where she's buried, and I should mention too that her obituaries were reprinted all over the place and mention of her being an Eastland disaster survivor was in them. In one of her obituaries it said that she was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, which made sense because she had other family members buried there as well. However, she also has a listing under Find a Grave which has her buried in the Bohemian National Cemetery. Are one of these listings incorrect? Not necessarily Hear me out on this one. We have a situation in our family where one of our cousins was killed in Normandy during World War II. His body was never located, but there is a burial site over there. But there also is a burial site that was set up here in his home state of Pennsylvania, and this kind of situation is often referred to as a cenotaph. A cenotaph is a monument or empty tomb erected in honor of a person whose remains are elsewhere.

Natalie Zett:

Is this what happened with Libby? I don't know, but I do know that it needs further investigation to see what happened. So I know, based on these newspaper articles and based on the documentaries and interviews with her that I have seen, she very much wanted to make sure that each person was remembered and she wanted to make sure the Eastland disaster was always remembered. And, in keeping with what George Hilton wrote, this is a very complex situation with all sorts of people affected and they're not the same. They might belong to similar communities or families, etc. But each one is different and I hope well obviously you have been able to see that over the last many weeks that I've been doing these stories. They are so different. But I do know that it's important to keep going with these stories and not keep retelling the same ones over and over again, because what happens is the thing that George Hilton warned about.

Natalie Zett:

Then we reduce the Eastland disaster to just a handful of stories and that just isn't accurate. So I will keep on next week and, by the way, I found an Al Capone connection in our family. I did, but it really doesn't fit into this episode. But I will share it with you next week. How's that for a tease? But you know I never tease you without delivering the information in the following episodes. So I promise to share this rather goofy story from my family.

Natalie Zett:

So have a good week and thank you again for all the feedback and for taking the time to hear these stories. I appreciate it more than I can tell you. So in the meantime, make sure you're taking care of your own family history and your family tree, because you never know what you're going to find. Take it easy, hey. That's it for this episode and thanks for coming along for the ride. Please subscribe or follow so you can keep up with all the episodes, and for more information, please go to my website, that's wwwflowerintherivercom. I hope you'll consider buying my book, available as audiobook, ebook, paperback and hardcover, because I still owe people money and that's my running joke. But the one thing I'm serious about is that this podcast and my book are dedicated to the memory of all who experienced the Eastland disaster of 1915. Goodbye for now.

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Natalie Zett

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