FOUNTAIN SPRINGS - Harry Hadamaka liked to tell the story of how he missed the boat.
The Barnesville man, who died in 2003 at age 93, was supposed to be on the Titanic when it set sail for the United States on April 10, 1912, said his daughter, Sonia Hiney.
Thankfully, Hadamaka and his mother, the late Mary Hadamaka, never made it on board.
Hiney recounted her father's oft-told story a few days before the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking.
"His mother went to settle an estate in the Ukraine," explained Hiney, Fountain Springs. "My father was 2 at the time, and she took him with her so her family could meet him."
The two were booked to return home on the Titanic. They wouldn't be traveling with the first- or second-class passengers but with the steerage, or third-class, passengers, Hiney said.
"They were very poor," she noted.
According to Hiney, the two took a train from the Ukraine to Frankfurt, Germany. From there, they were to travel to Southampton, England, where they would board the Titanic and make their way back to the United States.
Upon arrival in Frankfurt, Hadamaka was examined by transportation officials.
"He had developed some kind of a rash on his hand," she said. "They thought it was diphtheria."
Hadamaka was placed in quarantine for a few days and by the time he was cleared, the Titanic had set sail.
Hiney said her grandfather, the late Dmitro Hadamaka, stayed stateside and assumed that his wife and son were on the Titanic. There was no timely way to tell him otherwise; telephone service between Europe and the United States was still years away.
So when reports surfaced that the ship had sunk and taken more than half of its passengers with it, Hiney said Dmitro was consumed with worry.
"Imagine how it must have been for him," Hiney said.
Hadamaka and his mother were safely returned a few days later, dropped off by another ship in New York City.
The Hadamakas lived in Newark, N.J., for a few years before moving to Mahanoy City, where Dmitro established a window cleaning business and the couple raised their only son.
"He (their son) graduated right before the Great Depression and he couldn't find work, so he and a friend took off and went cross-country looking for jobs," Hiney said.
Harry landed a job building skyscrapers in New York City, and later inspected aircraft at the Middletown Air Depot. He lived in Mahanoy City - as did Hiney - and built a home in Barnesville.
He was a longtime member of the Ryan Township Fire Company in Barnesville and was an active fire policeman until a few months before his death.
And while he lived a full, happy and healthy life, Hiney said her father never forgot his ties to the Titanic. He kept a painting of the ship in his home.
He also hung on to a small book whose pages contain prayers written in Ukrainian. Hiney has it now.
"My grandfather gave this to his wife to keep them safe on their trip," she said. "I guess in a way it did keep them safe."