Menu
Rady family thankful for safety after Boston attacks
BOSTON -- If not for a couple of twists of fate, Monday afternoon could have turned out tragically for the Rady family.
The three men -- father Pat and sons Patrick and Michael -- were in New England for the two younger men to run the Boston Marathon.
When the two bombs exploded at approximately 2:50 p.m., all three men were nearby, but none of them were too close.
Some "better" luck with race traffic and in the hills of the course, and Patrick, a Cloverdale resident and Cloverdale High School teacher, might have been on exactly the right section of Boylston Street to be right at the bomb site.
And while Pat, the CHS boys' basketball coach, was directly across the street from the spot of the first bomb, if not for a VIP pass secured on Saturday, he likely would have been in the crowd on the North side of the street, in the immediate vicinity of the blast.
"My dad was given a VIP pass at the expo on Saturday," Patrick told the Banner Graphic. "If he doesn't get a VIP pass, then he's standing right there because he knew that was the time that we would be coming in. He wanted to get a picture, and he would've been over there on that side.
"And I was on target to be there at that time, but I got into some slower traffic earlier in the race and lost some time there," he added. "I just think that God's got different plans for me. For my brother to have finished 12 minutes before that -- I can't thank Him enough."
Michael, of Crawfordsville, is a more experienced runner than his older brother, was in the runner's tent east of the finish line and had finished the race 12 minutes before the blast.
In describing the explosions, both Pat and Patrick had trouble finding the words.
"It's hard to talk about," the elder Rady said. "The bomb was so loud. I can't explain how loud it was."
Pat described seeing smoke go up and then the images getting grisly once it had cleared, "and that's what I don't want to described. It was very gruesome."
Describing even thinking rationally as a chore, Patrick said seeing the images on television cannot do justice to being nearby.
"You would not wish anybody ever to go through that," he said. "I guess that's why they call it a terror attack because there's this fear and this terror of, 'Is it over?'"
Before the sense of fear struck him, though, Patrick said he was mainly confused by the first blast.
"I was on the homestretch and I heard this loud explosion and thought, 'Why are they shooting a cannon?'" Patrick said. "Then I looked at my watch and thought, 'Oh, that's the four-hour mark. I won't get my four-hour time.' But it startled me, so I thought I'd just sprint it out."
Upon explosion of the second bomb, father's and son's thoughts both turned to one another.
"The next bomb went off up the course and I thought, 'Oh, no. That's where Patrick should have been.' That bomb, to me, looked like it was more involved in the people and into the course," Pat said.
For his son, who was probably 30 yards from the second blast, confusion gave way to concern.
"Then the next one went off and I realized there was something wrong," Patrick said. "Then I heard screaming and they all just abruptly stopped us.
"All I could think was, 'My dad's there. My dad's there.'"
Unfortunately, the explosions had happened in between them, so they were sent in opposite directions in the immediate aftermath.
For Pat, the idea was to find his sons. As was the plan before the race, he went to the "R" family meeting area. While he was eventually able to contact Michael and meet up, locating Patrick was another task.
As a runner who had not yet reached the blast site, Patrick was sent back to the west.
Patrick immediately met with a few problems: He had no phone; he was underdressed for someone who was no longer running; he was exhausted after running 26 miles; he was in a crowd of thousands of people, almost all of whom were as unfamiliar with Boston as he was.
Through the kindness of strangers, Patrick was able to find some safety. A woman loaned him her sweatshirt for warmth and allowed him to use her phone to call his wife Jonna when calling his dad was not an option.
"With cell phones now, I just have Dad's number programmed in," Patrick said. "Luckily, I have my wife's number memorized."
Jonna was then able to contact Pat and Michael, who were able to make their way, slowly but surely, to Patrick's location.
They eventually met him at a yogurt shop where he had finally stopped to get a drink of water. Although almost all downtown businesses were closing, the shop owner stayed around until Patrick was reunited with his family.
"I really thank him (the shop owner)," Pat said. "I appreciate that he let Patrick stay in there until we got there."
Though reunited, getting back to their hotel was a chore. Public transit was shut down, but through the use of a taxi and a water taxi, the three Rady men got back across the harbor to their hotel.
After a restless, sleepless night, they were on the road early Tuesday morning, making their way back to western Indiana.
As they made the long drive back, their emotions continued to run the gamut between continued fear, sorrow for the victims and thankfulness for their own safety and the concern of others.
"It's tough getting it out of my mind -- the picture and the noise," Pat said. "Every once in a while I think I'm hearing it again."
Then in the next breath the old coach is thankful.
"I'm thankful to the Lord, and I pray for the families of the victims," he said. "I know what short time we have."
For Michael, the feelings are likely more deja vu. He was also in New York for the September 11, 2001 attacks. While the scope of these attacks was not the same, the feelings of helplessness for the family came back.
"Michael happened to be in a hotel in New York on 9/11 and we couldn't get a hold of him," Pat said. "He was in New York for two or three days."
Patrick said the bombings could have been a test of his faith, but they actually served as a testament to its strength.
"Our faith helped us remain positive in that situation. I would not have been able to get through it without my faith in Jesus Christ," Patrick said.
He added that he is continuing to stay positive about the experience. What started as a once-in-a-lifetime trip for these three men, will remain so in his mind.
"I'm not going to let what (a few people did) give me a negative view on the citizens of Boston," Patrick said. "They were so good to us all weekend. They just welcomed you into their city and were just very proud that you were in their city running."
He added that he has a new appreciation for the friends the Rady family made over the years in various communities around Indiana and the country. The phone was ringing continually on Monday evening with calls of concern and well wishes.
"I haven't even been able to get back to everyone," Patrick said. "People saying their thoughts were with us, their prayers were with us. Just from every community we've been involved with -- Terre Haute, Cloverdale, my brother in Crawfordsville, back in Baltimore, down in Hanover.
"Something like that just makes you appreciate just how many people truly care about you."
Forever the teacher and coach, Pat expressed a similar sentiment, finding a way to take a lesson from the most horrifying of situations.
"It was a trying experience but I look on a lot of things a lot different now," Pat said.