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Keeping A Vow To Visit A Floating Site Of Family Lore

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By DAVID COOK

Tribune correspondent

Published: September 7, 2008

From the time I was a young boy, my English grandmother Victoria Mills spoke often of the Queen Mary, regaling me with tales of its regal elegance, gourmet dining and first-class entertainment and her memories of strolling along the promenades in her mink stole under the endless moonlit sky.

She made 14 trans-Atlantic crossings on the two flagships of the Cunard line, the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mary. Her first trip, in 1953, was for healing following the sudden death of her husband. She set sail with my mother, Wendy, 13, from England.

The trip saved her sanity, my grandmother always said.

In the ensuing 10 years, she became a regular among the passengers, earning countless invitations to private functions with the captain and crew.

But it was her daughter Peggy Ann Mills, my aunt, who was the first in our family to sail the Queen Mary. In 1952, she left her home in England, bound for New York to meet the family of her fiance, Edward Skiber. She had met her American GI when he was stationed in England after World War II.

For Aunt Peggy, it was a bittersweet journey.

The night before she left London, her parents took her out for a big night at the theater. As the lights went down, a spotlight shone on the Royal Box, illuminating the entrance of popular King George V and his daughter, Princess Elizabeth. It was a heart-stopping moment.

The next day, as Peggy bid her parents farewell, young Princess Elizabeth did the same, setting off on her own transcontinental journey to some of Britain's colonies.

"Oh, it was a wonderful voyage across the Atlantic," recalls Peggy, 72. "I met up with another English girl, Doreen, who was also coming to America to meet her fiance. I remember one of the highlights was being invited to British actor-composer Noel Coward's cocktail party."

But the mood of the ship turned as the passengers arrived in New York harbor. King George V had died.

Later that year, my aunt married and settled in New York, marking the beginning of the Mills family's immigration to the United States. In the ensuing years, trips to Pier 90 became regular events as family members visited back and forth. During one of those visits, in 1958, my mother met a Navy sailor in New York and fell in love. They married a year later. He was shipped to Key West and, on Sept. 11, 1960, I was born during Hurricane Donna's assault on the lower Keys.

But my grandmother's trans-Atlantic odyssey continued.

A vivid memory from my childhood is seeing my grandmother off in 1964, one of her final voyages on the Queen Elizabeth. According to family lore, I passed out on the main promenade deck after sampling a glass of champagne at the bon voyage reception. Although my older cousins like to remind me about the incident, there are no photos to prove it ever happened!

I remember my grandmother crying as she watched news reports of the Queen Mary being pulled into its final berth in Long Beach, Calif., in 1967. She shed tears again in 1972 when the Queen Elizabeth was ravaged by fire in Hong Kong Harbor. It was scrapped three years later.

After my mother's death in 1981 and my grandmother's in 1985, I vowed to one day visit the Queen Mary. I was covering Major League Baseball's All-Star game for Tampa's News Channel 8 in July 1989 when I had my first opportunity.

After the post-game interviews around 1 a.m., I drove out to Long Beach. I'll never forget seeing the famous three funnels - the smokestacks - peeking through the late-night sea fog. A security guard told me I would have to leave and return later in the day if I wanted to take the tour. My flight back to Tampa left four hours later, so my return to the Queen Mary would have to wait for almost 19 years.

In February, I toured the Queen Mary with Bruce Vancil, executive director of the RMS Queen Mary Foundation, an organization dedicated to preserving the ship's history. Over the past year, Vancil has overseen the restoration of the Queen Mary Museum, creating many multimedia elements.

"We want people to see and feel the importance of the Queen Mary's role in the history of the 20th century," says Vancil, a student of maritime history.

One of Vancil's crowning achievements is the volume of personal stories - hundreds if not thousands so far - he has acquired from former passengers.

"That is the most wonderful part of this job," he says. "When I meet people, and a tear comes to their eye as they recount a wonderful memory onboard this wonderful lady."

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