Mother recalls tragedy

Photos showed family members smiling as their boat went across the water, giving a vibe of rejoice and praise.

The boat had been the vessel for a memorial so ashes could be spread into the sea for Phyllis Macay, 59, and a scrapbook made for her mother showed more pictures of people paying their respects.

Macay, daughter of a former Skyline student, and three others were killed by Somalian pirates on Feb. 22 during a hostage situation in the Indian Ocean.

"She was a special person," said her mother Patty Drinkwater, 83, as she turned the pages of the scrapbook. "A very special person."

Her daughter was full of life and fun, she said.

Drinkwater opened an earring case and showed the earring found on her daughter. She then took out a bracelet case reveling a cloth bracelet colored red and yellow.

"The F.B.I. came the day she was captured," she said. "I don't know what I would have done without them. It's much better to know then to wonder."

Macay had been captured and held hostage by Somalian pirates on Feb. 17, 2011.

Couple Jean and Scott Adams were on the ship with Robert Riggle and Macay. They had been sailing a yacht, called the Quest, in the Indian Ocean by the coast of Oman.

"They already had information on my children and their children," said Drinkwater. "They were trying to figure out how much they could demand. It was a business with them."

The Navy landed on the ship after days of negotiation. When they boarded on Feb. 22, two pirates had already been killed while the Navy shot two others and captured 13 pirates on the ship. Two had been captured for negotiations, pulling a total of 19 involved pirates.

That day, Macay and the three other hostages, had been shot and severely wounded. The Navy rushed them to surgery, but all four died during the operations.

They immediately held a memorial for Macay. The Navy sent Drinkwater a scrapbook of the service showing pictures of Navy Seals saluting the caskets covered by American flags.

Drinkwater placed this in a container that held the earring, bracelet and a scrapbook of her daughter's travels.

"Everyone she met loved her," she said. "And she loved them."

Macay had graduated from Michigan State where she majored in interior design. Throughout her life, she worked in various furniture stores.