By Judy Halone-The Courier Herald

Margaret Farrell has a reputation of being in the right place at the right time. As an active member on the Bonney Lake Park Board, the Lake Tapps resident has worked to strengthen community spirit with the city's annual Beautify Bonney Lake Day; she's also donated numerous pizzas from O'Farrell's - a pizza chain owned by her and her husband, John - for the events' many volunteers.

And on Nov. 20, Farrell happened to be in the right place at the right time once again - this time, on the waters of Tacoma's Commencement Bay.

“It was shortly after noon, and we'd just gotten out into the middle of the bay,” Farrell said. “We had relatives here from back east for Thanksgiving and we wanted to show them the new bridge and sights.”

But there was one sight no one had expected to see: Two plane crash victims fighting to survive in the frigid waters.

Farrell was visiting with other women in the warmth of the couple's 46-foot yacht - named “The Grand Madison” after their granddaughter - while the men visited outside on the deck. Then a whirlpool of activity filled the boat.

“We didn't know anything was going on until we heard the commotion,” she said. “Then they ran downstairs and let us know what was going on. My husband told everyone what their duties were; he put everyone into position.”

John Farrell called 9-1-1, “but it took too long for them to answer,” Margaret Farrell said. “Then he called ‘Mayday' over VHF,” she said.

What Margaret Farrell soon discovered was that the men had watched a small plane slowly circle over the water, decreasing in altitude with each turn. “They didn't actually see it crash, but they saw it on the water,” she said. “Then it sank.”

She said her husband “got it over there as fast as we could. By the time we got there, the lady was just floating and her son had his hand underneath her. He was holding her and yelling, ‘hurry, hurry, hurry.' He wanted to get his mother out of there as fast as he could. He was tired, you could tell that for sure.” She said the son is “54-ish” and his mother 73.

Margaret Farrell said her husband continued to delegate responsibilities while they attempted to rescue the adult son and his mother. “He told everyone to put on life jackets in case someone needed to jump in the water to save them. And my nephew, Jon, from New York, has had a lot of emergency training.

“The guys got them into the sling,” she said. “He told them what they were going to do. The woman was pretty much tired and she couldn't move. But they couldn't get hold of her and they said, ‘you have to sit up.' They saw that she was so cold and so scared.”

Once aboard, the women dried off the female victim and wrapped two blankets around her. “I've never had a person be that cold. We held her head and talked with her. She wasn't saying much because she was so cold - there wasn't a great deal of color to her.” Her son was talking and coherent, but exhausted, Farrell said. “He had used all his energy to keep his mother afloat. We got him to take his shirt off and we wrapped him in a towel. He was very shaken up.”

Help soon arrived, and rescue personnel from Tacoma Fire and Rescue accompanied the woman on the Farrells' yacht while it docked near Johnny's on Ruston Way. Once on land, Margaret Farrell stayed with the woman on her way to the ambulance. “I wanted to stay with her and let her know that I was there,” she said. “I wanted to make sure we had a kind of connection. I didn't want her to be alone. By then she was a little more coherent but she still couldn't talk. She just said, ‘I'm just cold, I'm just cold.'”

The couple, who asked that their names remain anonymous, were transferred to Tacoma General Hospital. Two days later, the Farrells received a very welcome phone call.

“(The son) called Thanksgiving morning and expressed his gratitude,” Margaret Farrell said. “He wants to take us out for dinner.”

Reflecting on the rescue, Margaret Farrell saw the entire scenario as “gigantic,” she said.

“It's like a little nice boat ride, like on Gilligans' Island, and then you're out for a rescue. I was so impressed how everyone on the boat was helpful, listened and did what they were told to do.” She attributed everyone's efforts to the success of the rescue: John and Pat Karr, from Edgewood, Wash.; Joe, Carrie and Eli Karr, from Summer; and Jon, April and Haley Bailey, from New York. “Jon has taken several courses in treating hypothermia,” she said.

Margaret Farrell said everything fell into synch for the rescue to be a success. “It was just traumatic - there's no two ways about it. You think, ‘oh my God. Everything happened.' We had our family from New York, we took the boat out and we were in the right area. We didn't see a single boat in any direction.”

One other factor played into the Farrell party locating the survivors: A pair of binoculars.

“John bought a very expensive pair of binoculars last year at the boat show and I had a conniption fit about it,” she said. “But during the rescue he had one of the guys using them and said, ‘You keep your eye on those people.” She won't give her husband a bad time about the binoculars any longer, she said.

The Farrells' help made news both nationally and locally. Bonney Lake Mayor Neil Johnson and the city planned to present a Certificate of Commendation to the couple at Tuesday night's City Council meeting.

Judy Halone can be reached at jhalone@courierherald.com.