Father of boat explosion victim remembers his daughter

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – Malvin Grimes recalled the last conversation he had with his daughter, Maleka Jackson.

“As she was getting ready to leave for the trip she did call me to let me know that they were at the airport and getting ready to leave and then she did text me back to tell me that they had landed and my last text to her was just have a great time,” Grimes said.

Maleka and her husband Tiran were vacationing in the Bahamas when over the weekend a tour boat exploded.

The terrifying scene was captured on camera.

10 Americans were on board, including Maleka and Tiran.

Tiran was injured.

Maleka was killed.

Grimes said that Maleka is a Chattanooga native, but was living in the Atlanta, Woodstock area.

“She didn’t live here in Chattanooga, but she was always in and out,” Grimes said.

He said she went to school at Dalewood Middle School and Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences.

She was also a Tennessee State University graduate and active in her sorority, AKA.

She was the mother of a 12-year-old son.

Grimes said she valued God, family, her work, believed in giving to the community and helping others.

“Maleka would be, I guess, what I call a shooting star. She had a life that kind of stayed straight on the course and it was a life that brought a lot of joy and a lot of support and love into the lives of others,” Grimes said.

Jackson enjoyed traveling.

Grimes said she would spearhead family trips.

One of those was in May.

Grimes traveled with his daughter to Hilton Head.

“Just spent one of those once in a lifetime vacations together with my sons and daughters and grandkids not knowing at the time that it really was a once in a lifetime vacation,” Grimes said.

But it was a vacation he valued and even more so now.

Grimes said he has since spoken with Jackson’s husband.

He was injured in the explosion, and on Monday was in the process of being transported back to the U.S.

A Go Fund Me page was created for Maleka and her family.

According to the page, there will be a vigil in her community (Lakestone near Walmart on 92) at the tennis court at 8 p.m. Tuesday night.