“Better Than Fiction” Guest: Tricia Goyer
Posted on September 21, 2012 | Comments Off on “Better Than Fiction” Guest: Tricia Goyer
I’m happy to welcome Author Tricia Goyer to Simple Revelations. She’s giving us a glimpse today into one of the true love stories from the Titanic from her original post (found
here).
Even in horrific events such as the Titanic disaster amazing stories emerge. Stories of heroics, stories of survival, and even stories of love. There were over a dozen newly married couples on board the grand ship, and many more couples who were impacted by the tragedy. Among those are these touching stories of love.
John and Nelle Snyder, first-class passengers, were saved in Lifeboat 7. It is said that when the first lifeboats were being loaded one of the members called for the “new grooms and brides” to board first. The Snyders didn’t hesitate. They were some of the first people in the lifeboats because so many passengers were afraid to leave the “big boat.”
I’m so glad that Tricia included links to her sources, because I couldn’t help digging a little deeper into their lives! Take, for example, this excerpt of a letter from John Snyder to his father:
“I can only tell you that I have a mighty fine wife and she is the one you must thank- besides our Lord- for my being able to write this letter. If it hadn’t been for Nelle I am sure that I never would be here now. She is the one that urged me to get up when I wanted to go back to bed. We were both asleep when the boat hit.”
What a testament to their story, their brand new marriage, and the life-saving ways God worked in it.
Upon further digging, I found another story of a couple aboard the Titanic, who lived out their lives for the glory of their God, “[standing] together for the Christian faith as the instrument of progress.” If you click over to this article, printed shortly after the Titanic’s sinking, you’ll read the tale of Rev. Ernest Courtenay Carter and his wife, Mrs. Lilian Carter. They are said to have insisted on others filling the life boats before them, Mrs. Carter stating that she was childless and urging other women ahead. Rev. Carter had presided over a Hymn service aboard the Titanic on April 14th, during which the hymn “For Those in Peril On the Sea” was sung. As their obituary concludes, “Given a situation such as that with which the passengers on the Titanic were faced between the first shock and the last plunge, there is no question as to what these two would wish to do. They were childless, and in Commercial Street their life was always lived for others. Ernest Carter would pass round with his words of artless and ardent comfort, and his wife would say, Let the mothers get to the boats first; you and I must see this out together”.
For Those in Peril on the Sea:
Special thanks to Tricia Goyer for her permission to post the Snyder excerpt from her post, Titanic Love Stories.
Tricia Goyer is the author of more than 30 books and has published more than 500 articles for national publications such as Focus on the Family, Today’s Christian Woman and HomeLife Magazine. She won the Historical Novel of the Year award in both 2005 and 2006 from American Christian Fiction Writers, and was honored with the Writer of the Year award from Mt. Hermon Writer’s Conference in 3002. Tricia’s Book Life Interrupted was a finalist for the Gold Medallion Book Award in 2005. Tricia’s co-written novel, The Swiss Courier, was a nominee for the Christy Awards.
