The last American survivor of the Titanic was a Massachusetts native.

Although Lillian Asplund died several years ago, only her memory will remain in the state since the artifacts of her trip were sold unexpectedly at an auction in England.

Edward Kamunda said he fell in love with the history of the Titanic in 1952 after he read "A Great Ship Goes Down.” Ever since then, he said he has been determined to preserve artifacts and mementos that belonged to passengers.

Kamunda has many artifacts at the Titanic Historical Society Museum in Indian Orchard. However, he was unable to save the artifacts of Asplund, the last American survivor of the Titanic who was born in Worcester and died at the age of 99 in the year 2006.

“She was a very private individual and she didn't want to talk about the story or anything so we respected her privacy," said Kamunda.

Although, Kamunda said he has spoken with her family members who visited the museum.

"We had family representatives over here who saw our family collection in our museum and various artifacts we have collected from the Titanic Historical Society over the years. They had said they expressed an interest in donating some of these items to the society," said Kamunda.

Asplund's memories were sold Saturday at an auction house in England.

Photographs, letters, tickets and Asplund’s pocket watch which reportedly stopped ticking at 2:19, which is when the ship sank after hitting the iceberg were auctioned off.

Kamunda said it not only upset the family members but those trying to preserve history.

"These things belong in museums where they can be appreciated by the public rather than locked in somebody desk or vault or what have you," said Kamunda.

Even though Asplund's artifacts were not able to be saved Kamunda does have memorabilia from other local passengers.

“We have a pocket watch that belonged to Milton Long who is buried right here in Massachusetts," sad Kamunda.