Mrs Anton Kink-Heilmann (Luise Heilmann), 26, was born on 21 March 1886 in Germany.
On 5 May 1908 she married Anton Kink, 22, from Mahrensdorf, Austria. Four weeks after the birth, on 8 April 1908, of a daughter Luise. The couple lived at 66 Hornbachstrasse, Zürich until 31 March 1912.
Together with the Kink family were her husband's siblings Maria Kink and Vinzenz Kink. They all boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers. Mother and daughter shared cabin R190 with Aloisia Haas, Josefina Arnold and her sister-in-law Maria Kink.
On 14 April April her husband appeared after the collision, woke her, and told her what had happened. The women dressed. Somehow they managed to reach the Boat-Deck, but Anton's brother and sister were lost. Luise and her daughter entered lifeboat #2 but Anton had to stay behind. The boat was about to be lowered when he jumped into it.
Anton Kink, his wife and his daughter went on to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He leased a farm outside Milwaukee's. Luise was divorced in 1919. Luise Kink-Heilmann never learned enough English to speak it well. She secluded herself more and more. Later she married a Mr Kroepfl. She never talked about her experience on that fateful night. If someone asked, she always said: "Why do you want to know that?", and would burst into tears. However, in 1974 she suddenly stated: "Being in the lifeboat, waiting for the Carpathia, never had I thought, I would live to grow as old as I'm now."
Her daughter Luise took care of her till her death on 9 October 1979. She was buried at Sunnyside-cemetery, Milwaukee.
Courtesy of Michael A. Findlay, USA
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