Peggy Say, the self-described housewife from Batavia who spent nearly seven years on a tireless quest for the release of her brother, journalist Terry Anderson, and fellow hostages from kidnappers in Lebanon, died Wednesday. She was 74.
If you lived around here 30 years ago, you knew the face of Peggy Say. You knew she was relentless in her efforts to get her brother, Terry Anderson, back from Beirut.
He even heard about her crusade - on the occasions his pro-Iranian Shiite Muslim kidnappers would let him listen to a radio. Anderson was the chief Middle East correspondent for The Associated Press. He said his sister died following a long illness.
She had been living about an hour east Nashville, Tennessee. Say left our area for Kentucky in 1988, hoping for some privacy. Her brother was released three years later.
Did her activism prolong his captivity? Anderson said he didn't think so and told her he was pleased with her efforts.
As Peggy Say would put it: "I did what I had to do as his sister."
Anderson recently retired from teaching journalism at the University of Florida. In addition to Anderson and two other siblings, Anderson said that Say is survived by daughter Melody Smith, son Edward Langendorfer and several grandchildren.
