Mrs John Borland Thayer (Marian Longstreth Morris), 39, from Haverford, Pennsylvania, her husband John B. Thayer and son Jack Thayer boarded the Titanic as first class passengers. Mrs Thayer’s maid Margaret Fleming travelled with them. About 5.00 p.m. on the afternoon of Sunday April 15, she and her friend Emily Ryerson went for a walk on deck. They were approached by Bruce Ismay who explained to them about the possibility of meeting icebergs in the area. He showed them the ice warning from the Baltic that Captain Smith had passed to him. The family were preparing for bed when the collision occurred. Jack went up immediately to investigate, he returned to their stateroom and they followed him back on deck. Jack somehow lost his parents in the confusion on deck but John B. and Marian eventually made their way back to the port side forward on A deck. By around 12.30 a.m. they and other first class passengers waited by the windows of the enclosed promenade to board lifeboat 4. The boat finally left at 1.55 a.m. With only two seamen aboard Mrs Thayer and the other ladies grabbed the oars and helped to row. During the night when lifeboat 12, with boat 4 alongside, picked up the survivors from the upturned collapsible B Mrs Thayer was too numbed with cold to see that her son Jack had also been saved. Their reunion had to wait until 8.30 a.m. when boat 12 arrived at the Carpathia. On 31 May she dined with Madeleine Astor and Florence Cumings. The guests of honour were Captain Rostron and Dr. McGhee of the Carpathia. She never claimed from White Star for the loss of her husband’s life, but curiously, she did claim for the loss of their luggage. She never remarried, continuing to live in Haverford, Pennsylvania where she died on April 14, 1944.