Like hundreds of other third-class passengers on the Titanic's maiden voyage, Millvina Dean's parents (named Bertram and Georgetta, per The New York Times) were on their way to the United States, hoping for a better life in America. As The Guardian reported in 2009, her father, an Englishman, had family in Kansas and hoped to open a tobacco shop there. In 1912, this prompted Bertram to buy passage for third class on the Titanic for himself, Georgetta, and Millvina, who was only two months old at the time.

When the Titanic infamously sunk after striking an iceberg near Newfoundland, Canada, Bertram heard a crunching sound and suspected danger was afoot. He ordered his wife and infant daughter upstairs. Fortuitously, Millvina, her brother, and her mother were among the few third-class passengers to make it safely to a lifeboat. Owing to the code of "women and children first," Bertram stayed behind. Per The New York Times, he presumably drowned when the ship sank.

Millvina eventually returned to England. As an adult, she worked as part of the British government's cartography department, according to her New York Times obituary. She rarely spoke of the incident, and stated she couldn't grasp why anyone was interested in her story, calling herself "such an ordinary person."

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