Settled somewhere on the bed of the North Atlantic is the skeleton of a behemoth, disintegrating quietly into its icy surroundings.

While its disappearance beneath the fatally freezing waves on April 15, 1912 has become a symbol of tragic human waste, of the needless loss of 1,500 passengers, to DeeDee Ferencz, its anniversary is one of hope and possibility.

It's a reminder of how the R.M.S. Titanic wasn't the vehicle of her grandmother's demise.

"My grandmother almost went on the Titanic. She didn't book passage, because there wasn't enough room," the Hayden woman said, adding that her Romanian mother was among the swarm of immigrants eager for passage to the U.S. and a new life.

Her grandmother, Estina Zimburean, was pregnant with Ferencz's father at the time, Ferencz added, and she ended up booking passage on the "next ship," the Carpathia. That was the vessel that would soon after salvage those in the scant life boats from the sunken ship of dreams.

"No doubt she would've been booked steerage (on the Titanic), and had less chance of surviving," Ferencz said, adding that she finds the anniversary a reason to celebrate her lineage. "It was a godsend my grandmother was on the next boat. Our family has survived. Here we are, 100 years later."

Most North Idaho residents can't trace as direct a connection to the 100th anniversary of the Titanic's ill-fated maiden voyage today. Yet it still has fixed many of their eyes back on the subject that has never vanished from the zeitgeist, the tragedy prevalent in documentaries, museum exhibits, and staring in the rereleased film that initially spurred a near manic obsession with the ship's trajectory.

Ferencz believes that's because of the contrast of Titanic's glorified promise and its catastrophic climax.

"It was the most state of the art at its time, and it had a flaw," she said. "That's why I think it will always be apart of public interest."

Still Popular

No one from North Idaho was on board the Titanic, to the best of local historians' knowledge, said Dorothy Dahlgren, director of the Museum of North Idaho.

But even without that tie, she confessed that, like many, she has been absorbing TV programs about the spectacular disaster this week.

"It is fascinating and captivates the public," Dahlgren said. "I think it's the dramas that played out on the ship, from the working class folks all the way up to the upper class, the heroics as well as the cowardness. People are just fascinated at how people reacted to the disaster, and the fact that so many lives were lost."

It also appears to be a resilient source of entertainment.

In the midst of the release of the 3D "Titanic" film and the approaching anniversary, there were several holds for the original film at the Coeur d'Alene Public Library this week.

Customers have been approaching staff several times a day about Titanic merchandise at Hastings, said Jason Blodgett, store manager.

"It's been primarily just the movie," he said of what they ask for. "Any time there's a re-release, interest in the old title surfaces."

No one is really touching Titanic-related books, he said, but there has been high demand for a recent issue of National Geographic with a rendering of the sinking on its cover, inside an in-depth feature about Titanic, the ongoing public fascination with its demise, and leaps in sonar technology and deep sea photography that allow intimate study of the shipwreck.

"That's been pretty hot," Blodgett said.

The interest has spanned all ages, he said. He isn't surprised, especially after hearing from long-time employees about the aggressive demand for "anything Titanic" after the initial film release.

"Besides the movie being as amazingly popular as it was, there's always been a national fascination with the sinking of the Titanic," he said.

Crystal Reiber of Post Falls believes that's because people "are obsessed with any natural disaster."

The acting teacher confessed that she doesn't have a particularly profound reaction to the centennial anniversary of the sinking, though.

She pointed out that her younger generation tends to think of the film and its lavish special effects first, and the real event second.

"I think it's dangerous," Reiber said. "Historical fact is a lot more healthy to know about than how a film portrays it."

A Connection

But Coeur d'Alene composer Gary Edwards said the film simply provided a conduit for the public to connect with the tragedy.

"Everybody can relate to a significant event like that," Edwards said, adding that this one in particular underscores human frailty, even when it seemed our engineering and structural vision had peaked. "It shows mankind, despite all its logical advances, has never been secure. Never say a ship is unsinkable."

Edwards also recently visited the Titanic exhibit at the Luxor in Las Vegas. Maybe an ironic venue, yet offering glimpses of astonishingly preserved artifacts from the shipwreck, including mundane objects used by passengers who would soon after perish, leaving only such small fragments of life behind.

"I saw stuff people used on a daily basis," Edwards said. "It brings the reality of it home to you."

His personal fascination is derived from the treatment of each social strata on the ship, he said.

"The disparity in the lifestyles of the rich and famous versus the group of steerage passengers, who had less chance of getting out alive, and the heroism in getting them rescued stood out to me," he said.

Edwards anticipates the Titanic's popularity to carry on, he added.

If only because of the questions it forces individuals to face.

"History repeats itself," he said. "People are sure if it happened back then, it can happen to them."