Sofia was a maid. She was born in the village of Riistavesi, near Kuopio, in 1874. She moved to Helsinki in 1905, where she worked at the School For The Blind for three years. After this job she worked for some time at the Missionary House, and then she took care of merchant K. Koskinen's household as a hostess. She had no opportunity for education, except for confirmation school, but she was described by her friends as a person always willing to learn something new, dedicating her spare time to reading.
In 1911 one of Sofia Laitinen's friend left for the United States, and she lent this friend some money on condition that she would be sent a ticket to the New World. She received the promised ticket in November, but she was unable to make up her mind whether to leave or stay; so the voyage was postponed until April, when she sailed on the Titanic.
Sofia had some strange premonitions of impending disaster. One night he had a dream in which she fell into a well filled with ice-cold water . . . just like that of the Atlantic on that cold April night.
Miss Kristina Sofia Laitinen, 37, a single woman living in New York, was returning to that city from Helsinki, Finland. She boarded the Titanic in Southampton.
Miss Laitinen's body was never found and no compensation claim was ever made.
(From JP)