BRANSON, Mo. — The Titanic Museum Attraction invited one of the few remaining direct descendants of survivors of the Titanic to witness a special exhibit honoring the children aboard the ship.

Joan Marie Pope Randall is the first generation of one of the Titanic’s 712 survivors. Randall’s mother Louise Gretchen Kink was 4 years old when she boarded the ship with the rest of her family. She visited Branson today to watch as her mother’s shoes — worn on the night of April 14 and 15, 1912 — were put on display as part of a special tribute to the 135 children who were aboard the Titanic for its sailing.

“It’s a little overwhelming,” said Randall. “I brought a couple more pieces of things in my collection for them to see if it will fit into what they have going on here, because, again, they’re just sitting there.”

Kink’s shoes and a blanket are now part of the largest collection of Titanic children’s artifacts. The exhibit shares the stories of 135 passengers and crew members who were age 15 or younger when the Titanic set sail, known as the “Year of the Titanic Children.”

“The amount of people interested in the passenger’s stories is overwhelming.  The ship happens to be the facility that allows us to tell these stories,” said Titanic Museum COO & Co-owner Mary Kellogg. “When we unveiled the shoes, I actually had tears come to my eyes because I thought this woman is seeing how important this story is.   It’s her family’s story and we get to tell it.”