BYLINE: By Gayle Ronan Sims; Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer

Sophia Maciejewska Kubacki, 89, a survivor of the hijacking of the Italian
cruise ship Achille Lauro by Palestinian terrorists in the Mediterranean Sea
in 1985, died Monday of pneumonia in her East Falls home.

Mrs. Kubacki and her husband, Stanley L. Kubacki, a Philadelphia Common
Pleas Court judge, survived three brutal days as two of 19 people (12 of
them elderly Americans) held hostage by heavily armed hijackers.

The Kubackis - both experienced travelers - had chosen to tour the
Mediterranean by ship because they believed it was safe.

On Oct. 7, 1985, a Monday, the Kubackis stayed behind when most of the 748
passengers disembarked the Achille Lauro in Egypt for a side trip to the
pyramids. The couple had seen the pyramids before. Besides, Mrs. Kubacki
wanted to wash her husband's socks.

Shortly after noon, as the Kubackis ate lunch in the ship's main dining
hall, the terrorists took over the ship.

The next day, the hostages heard gunfire and the dreadful splash that
signaled the shooting of a wheelchair-bound American, Leon Klinghoffer, and
the dumping of his body overboard. The Kubackis were sure the rest of them
would follow. The couple looked at each other and slowly mouthed, "I love
you. Good-bye, dear" to each other, their son, Michael, said.

The following day, the hijacking was over when the terrorists agreed to
leave the vessel.

That night, Mrs. Kubacki and her husband took a big slug of scotch and
carefully bolted the door and sat awake.

On their way home, the Kubackis were among the freed American hostages who
identified the hijackers - who had been captured after giving up the Achille
Lauro - in a lineup in Sicily.

Less than a week later, the Kubackis were back in Philadelphia. Their home
was tied with yellow ribbons and filled with family.

"It will get better," she said in a 1985 Inquirer interview. "It will get
better."

Born and raised in Port Richmond, Mrs. Kubacki graduated from St. Adalbert
School. She opened a beauty salon at Ninth and Spruce Streets in the 1930s.

After the couple married in 1941, Mrs. Kubacki continued to cut hair until
her husband returned home from World War II. They settled in Rhawnhurst and,
while raising two children, Mrs. Kubacki worked as a Democratic
committeewoman in the 1950s and as a mutual funds agent for Waddell & Reed
until 1969.

In 1976, after moving to East Falls, Mrs. Kubacki continued her passion for
gardening. She was active with the League of Women Voters and was a foster
parent to a dozen children scattered around the globe.

In addition to her son, Mrs. Kubacki is survived by daughter, Christine
Grieco; three grandchildren; a sister; a nephew; and a niece. Her husband
died in 2001.