The Philadelphia Inquirer
—
The family's holiday over, Thayer would be returning to the Haverford School that spring. Then, according to designs laid by his father, it would be Princeton and apprenticeships in banking houses throughout the capitals of Europe. ``It was planned,'' he wrote nearly 30 years after that chilly night, April 14, 1912. ``It was a certainty.'' As certain as the word that the great ship, Titanic, was unsinkable. He was about to climb into bed at 11:40 p.m. when he felt the ship sway slightly to port, ``as though she had been gently pushed.'' Nearby, in another first-class stateroom, Richard Norris Williams, 21, sensed it as well.