ASHWAUBENON, Wisconsin - What was supposed to be a dream vacation for a Green Bay family, turned into a horror story.

In November 1961, the Duperrault family boarded a sailboat to spend a week in the Bahamas. Now the sole survivor of that trip is finally sharing what happened next, in “Alone: Orphaned on the Ocean,” a book she co-authored.

“It’s taken me that long to feel comfortable with telling my story, and getting it out there,” said Tere Duperrault, now 60 years-old.

Five days into her family’s vacation, Tere awoke to the sound of her brother screaming. When she left her room, she found the bodies of her mother and brother. The murderer was their boat’s captain, Julian Harvey.

Harvey flooded the boat and escaped in the boat’s dingy. Tere was left behind to drown, but the level-headed girl found a small raft.

She would spend four nights and three days floating in the ocean.

“I was very comfortable. I had no fear that I was not going to survive,” said Duperrault.

Meanwhile, Harvey was telling a tale of a large squall that destroyed the boat. As Harvey testified at a Coast Guard hearing on the sinking, sailors on an ocean freighter noticed something odd.

“There’s this beautiful blond girl on a lifeboat,” said Richard Logan, the book’s coauthor. “I can’t imagine a more astonishing sight.”

She was dehydrated, her kidneys failing and her heartbeat weak. Harvey’s hearing was interrupted with the news of Tere’s discovery. Harvey excused himself, then drove to a motel where he committed suicide.

Today, she lives in Kewaunee and is a proud mother, grandmother and pet owner. Despite her ordeal, she has little fear of the water. She lives just blocks from Lake Michigan and spent her career as a water management specialist for the DNR.

“Sometimes the sounds of the waves put me right back on the ocean,” said Duperrault. “It’s a melancholy feeling but it’s a good feeling, because it makes me feel I am there with them again.”

Duperrault has left a lasting legacy since her rescue. Today all life-saving equipment is colored international orange, so it’s easier to spot survivors at sea.

She and the book’s coauthor will be signing copies of their book on Friday, May 14th at 7 p.m. at the Barnes and Noble in Ashwaubenon.

Click here to read more in WFRV-TV

Click here to read a detailed account of the even from Time