SEATTLE (AP) — More than 200 friends and relatives gathered Monday night to remember two Seattle sailors killed in waters near Somalia last week after being taken hostage by pirates.
Gail Kalbrener is a past commodore of the Seattle Singles Yacht Club. She described 59-year-old Phyllis Macay as “wild and bubbly” and 67-year-old Bob Riggle as “kind and gentle.”
Kalbrener says the two touched many lives. The Seattle Times reports that many friends fought back tears as they described two people who were living their dreams.
Macay and Riggle were aboard the 58-foot sailing yacht Quest, owned by Scott and Jean Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif., when it was seized by pirates Feb. 18. On Feb. 22, a pirate aboard the yacht fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a nearby U.S. warship. Then gunfire broke out aboard the yacht. When Navy special forces reached the Quest, they found the four American hostages had been fatally shot.
