Witnesses to the events at the Boston Marathon continue to share their stories. Advisers were there, too: One was near the end of her 26 miles when the bombs went off.
Phil Stathos, a financial adviser and partner at Mayflower Advisors LLC, cheered on his wife, Alice, during her fourth marathon in Boston last Monday.
He watched her run by and turn onto Boylston Street for the final stretch at 2:46 p.m. — four minutes before the bombs exploded. After initially thinking that a transformer blew, Mr. Stathos became concerned after the second explosion and panic-stricken when he saw runners fleeing the finish area.
“I knew by the timing that she had to have been nearby the blasts, and I had no idea how powerful they were,” he said last Wednesday. “All around me, people were praying and crying and hugging each other, and many were trying to make cell phone calls, but none were going through.”
OVERWHELMING RELIEF
About 90 minutes after he had last seen her, Alice Stathos texted her husband to say she was OK. His relief was overwhelming; he had already begun mentally preparing what to tell their three sons had their mother been hurt or killed.
The experience gave Mr. Stathos some new perspective on life that he expects to share with clients.
“As an adviser, my role with clients is helping them plan for what we hope will be a long life,” he said. “In reality, the only certainty we have is today, and there has to be a balance between saving for tomorrow and living for today.”
Mr. Stathos had planned to take last Friday off to be with his family.
Jennifer Hartman, principal at Greenleaf Financial Group in Los Angeles, ran in Monday's Boston Marathon. She was running down the home stretch with two friends when the first explosion sounded.
“From the intensity, I knew people had lost their lives. It was scary, but at that point, as a marathon runner, you're exhausted,” Ms. Hartman said.
“Your first reaction is to get to the finish line. But now there's this explosion, so my reaction was, "Let's go the other way,'” Ms. Hartman said.
“And the second bomb went off, so then I thought: "Will there be a third?'” she said.
Ms. Hartman and her two friends grabbed hands and made their way safely down Exeter Street.
“Being an adviser played into the situation. We were calm ... We made good decisions about what we should do,” Ms. Hartman said.
“We used Facebook once we got back to the hotel, and there were people calling, texting and e-mailing,” she said.
Adviser Robert Henderson was at the marathon, proud to see his younger brother pass mile 20. He promised that he, his wife and two young children would meet the first-time marathoner in the finish area.
Running to raise funds for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, his 37-year-old brother, Erik, was fulfilling a goal pledged years earlier when the pair watched the race together every year growing up near Hopkinton, Mass., where the marathon begins.
Erik Henderson, who had trained for three months, was halted a mile from the end of the race after the explosions.
Following the blasts, Robert Henderson, president of Landsdowne Wealth Management LLC in Mystic, Conn., sent his family back to their car in the Boston outskirts while he continued by subway to Fenway Park, about two miles from the finish line.
“Walking through the city trying to find [my brother] felt so much like 9/11,” said Mr. Henderson, who lived in New York when terrorist attacks took down the World Trade Center towers. “It was such a similar, somber mood, with people crying and not a lot of other noise.”
Mr. Henderson eventually made it to a gathering area about four blocks from the finish line, and an hour later was relieved to see his brother, who lives in Jacksonville, Fla., arrive.
Both brothers were impressed with the number of Boston residents coming out of their brownstones to offer runners food, warmer clothing and other assistance.
Financial companies around Boston now are considering how they can assist those affected.
For instance, Commonwealth Financial Network's charity board met last Tuesday to discuss ways to help, Wayne Bloom, the firm's chief executive, wrote in an e-mail.
Commonwealth, based in Waltham, Mass., had staff members and advisers running in the race. None of them were harmed.
“Everyone I know said they wanted to come back next year,” Ms. Hartman said. “It's the Super Bowl of marathons.”
InvestmentNews reporter Darla Mercado contributed to this story.
