Miss Marion Louise Becker was born in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India on 28 December 1907.

She was the daughter of Allen Oliver Becker (1872-1956), a Lutheran pastor originally from Michigan, and Nellie Elizabeth Baumgardner (1876-1961), a native of Ohio. Her parents had married in Ohio on 20 September 1898 and shortly after settled in India where her father worked as a missionary. She had three siblings: Ruth Elizabeth (1899-1990), Luther Allen (1905-1907) and Richard Fulton (1910-1975).

In early 1912 her younger brother Richard fell ill and upon the advice of physicians the family were encouraged to return to the USA where he had better chance of survival. She, her mother, sister and brother left her father behind in India. For their Atlantic crossing, the Beckers boarded the Titanic at Southampton on 10 April 1912 as second class passengers (ticket number 230136 which cost £39).

On the night of the sinking Mrs Becker had gathered her three children and headed to the upper decks where they waited for a time in one of the public rooms before braving the cold out on the open deck, either A-deck promenade or the boat deck. Marion and her brother were bundled into a lifeboat (number 11) by a crewman and followed by their anxious mother. Her sister Ruth escaped in the following lifeboat, number 13.

Marion and the rest of her family survived the sinking and eventually made it to America.

Marion's father joined the rest of the family in America in 1913. By 1920 she was still living with her family, now in Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio. The 1930 census shows Marion as a patient at a tuberculosis hospital in Springfield, Ohio.

Marion was never married. The 1940 census shows her living in Denver, Colorado, with another woman, Utah-born Alta Johnson (age 27). They were both unemployed at the time. Alta is listed as “Head” of the household and Marion is listed as “Partner.” Whether they were lovers is not known, but this is perhaps what caused the familial rift between Marion and her mother.

Marion later lived in Glendale, Los Angeles, California and died there on 15 February 1944 after battling tuberculosis. Aged just 36, she was buried in a family plot in Oakland Cemetery, Princeton, Illinois. Her mother refused to go to her funeral.