Individuals with link to historic sinking meet in La Grande

It happened again Saturday — for the first time in 98 years.
The paths of the Engelhart Ostby and Frank Warren families crossed. Fortunately this time they intersected in the basement of Foley Station instead of a lifeboat in the Atlantic.

The families’ paths intersected when Howard Ostby of Milton-Freewater and Gordon Leitch of Dundee met Saturday at the fifth annual Titanic Dinner and Historic Artifact Viewing in La Grande.

Ostby and Leitch are the descendants of the Frank Warren and Engelhart Ostby families who last met during the sinking of the Titanic 98 years ago. Two families who each lost a loved one in the historic tragedy but also can boast of a survivor. Survivors who sat next to each other in a lifeboat during the sinking of the Titanic April 15, 1912.

“It was fun to learn how our families last met on the Titanic,’’ said Howard Ostby, who attended the dinner with his wife, Trudy.

Howard Ostby said his great-aunt rarely spoke of her Titanic experience. He does recall that she told family members about how the Titanic’s orchestra played “Near My God To Thee’’ as lifeboats were lowered into the Atlantic. She also spoke of how silent it was on the calm waters of the Atlantic in the early morning hours of April 15, 1912.

“It was scary quiet,’’ Howard Ostby said, recalling his great-aunt’s description.

Helen Ostby and Anna Warren were in a lifeboat with about 33 other people for about four hours before they were rescued by the crew of the Carpathia, which had responded to a wireless telegraph distress signal.

Helen Ostby was likely close to getting hypothermia when the Carpathia arrived.

“It was very cold on the life raft.

It was very difficult for her to get out because her hands and feet were so cold,’’ Howard Ostby said.

Helen boarded the Carpathia with Anna Warren, whom she shared a room with on her journey back to the United States. The Warrens and Ostbys were among 2,224 people aboard the Titanic, 1,513 of whom perished.

Howard Ostby and Gordon Leitch were among 115 people who attended last weekend’s Titanic event put on by Foley Station and John Lamoreau of La Grande. Photos of Frank and Anna Warren were among the hundreds of artifacts, all collected by Lamoreau after years of exhaustive work, that filled the entire lower level of Foley Station. About 80 percent of those who attended the Friday and Saturday event were from outside Northeast Oregon. People came from as far as California and Canada.

Diners enjoyed dinners that were authentic re-creations of what passengers on the Titanic ate for their last meal. Friday’s dinner was the one those with second-class tickets had. Saturday’s meal replicated what was offered to first-class passengers, a dinner that included lamb with mint sauce, poached salmon and Waldorf pudding. Such was the meal Frank and Anna Warren and Helen and Engelhart Ostby, all first-class passengers, enjoyed 98 years ago.

Leitch said on Saturday that his great-grandmother Anna Warren, like Helen Ostby, rarely spoke of her Titanic experience.

“She said very little about it,’’ Leitch said.

Anna Warren, who lived in Portland, made few if any trips to the coast again after surviving the sinking of the Titanic.

“She refused to have anything to do with the ocean,’’ said Leitch, a retired physician.

Helen Ostby, by contrast, did not let the experience curtail her life. She continued to sail frequently and made several trips to Europe via ship. Ostby was in Europe when World War I started in 1914 and did not flee.

“She decided to stay to see what would happen,’’ Howard Ostby said.

Helen Ostby later was in Portugal when World War II erupted and again elected to remain in Europe. She survived WWII but not without some harrowing moments.

“She had some close calls,’’ Howard Ostby said. “She was the adventuresome type. She liked living life to the fullest.’’