Irene Corbett

submitted by: Livie Holm

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My ancestor that I’m going to talk about is Irene Corbett. She is an ancestor on my mom’s side of the family. Irene Corbett was born on August 6, 1881 in Provo, Utah. She grew up with 6 siblings and including her there were 7 kids total. She had 3 children and a husband, Walter Corbett. Irene was a school teacher, housewife, and a nurse. Irene went to England in 1911 to learn how to be a midwife. Her parents sold some of their land so that they could pay for Irene to go to England. While Irene was in England her parents took care of her 3 children, Walter(5), Kady(3), and Mack(1). Before Irene left England she sent a postcard saying that she was going to be riding the Titanic home and she was excited about getting to ride it.

On the Titanic were 2,240 passengers and crew. The Titanic was set to take sail on April 10th, 1912 but never made it to America. Irene had a second class seat on the Titanic. The Titanic was supposed to be on the voyage for 5 to 7 days. The Titanic was super nice and had a swimming pool and a restaurant. This was the first time it had ever sailed. People were excited to stay on the Titanic because it was a super fancy ship.

On April 14th they started to receive messages about icebergs in the area. At 11:40 pm they hit an iceberg. One side of the ship started to sink and at one point it broke in half. There were only enough lifeboats for ⅓ of the people on the Titanic. Women and children got to go on the lifeboats. Irene gave up her seat in a lifeboat to help people to calm down because she was a nurse. Meanwhile in Provo, Utah Irene’s family had heard about the crash. One day they received a telegram from the White Star Line of Great Britain that Irene Corbett was not one of the survivors on the Titanic. Her family was devastated.

Irene loved to help others and also had a lot of courage. She taught us to believe in your dream and even though other people don’t like it, never let it go. This is why I chose Irene Corbett for my ancestor.