Remembering the Boston Marathon bombings, 10 years later

Ten years ago, two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The attack on April 15, 2013, killed three spectators and injured hundreds of people.

A decade later, heartache lingers even as survivors of the attack and admirers of the oldest annual marathon in the world continue to recover.

“I was 200 feet away from the bombs when they went off,” said Ed Jacobs, of Brookline. “My wife was sitting in the bleachers across the street. And, you know, that's something you just don't forget.”

Jacobs, who has worked the race for 52 years, and his wife were unhurt in the bombing. However, he said the shock of what happened still reverberates. As the marathon's technical producer, he plays a critical role in how the community pauses to remember and process the attack.

On Saturday, One Boston Day, city officials and local groups call on the public to honor those who lost their lives and to pay tribute to the resilience of the survivors. It'll be a day filled with acts of service and remembrance events, including a wreath laying where the three spectators were killed in 2013.

In a somber annual ceremony Saturday afternoon, it is Jacobs' job to call the bell-ringer in Old South Church in Copley Square and cue the ringing of the bells.

“That sends shivers up and down my spine, when I hear those bells," said Jacobs. The bells toll at precisely at 2:49 p.m. to mark the time of the first explosion.

Per longstanding tradition, crews worked over the past several weeks to set up the race infrastructure in Copley Square: the temporary bleachers, a photo bridge, the medical tents.

In a newer, more poignant ritual, volunteers on their hands and knees carefully washed and buffed the two memorials on Boylston Street at the sites of the explosions.

As the preparations for marathon weekend were underway, Sarah Fink, of Chelmsford, Mass., relaxed in Copley Square Park with her husband and three young children. Fink said that as the day marking 10 years since the attack drew near, visiting the finish line provoked her to reflect on the tragedy.

“It would be naive to think that it hasn't changed us,” said Fink. “I think we all have changed, just given how fragile life is.”

But Fink said she and her husband try to downplay the negative, and teach their kids that kindness matters and that being good makes a difference.

The city of Boston witnessed an outpouring of support immediately after the bombings. Volunteers stayed on to nurse the injured. Doctors and nurses worked overtime in the area's hospitals. A charitable fund was set up just seven hours after the attack.

“Those people who helped in 2013 after the bombing inspired other people,” Fink said. “They inspired people to do something else that would be positive, and bring some light after something so dark.”

Jacobs shares that sentiment. Having spent more than half a century supporting the production of the marathon, and having grieved the losses of 2013, Jacobs said he tries to stay focused on what works.

“I guess I use the success of all the events since then to mask any kind of bad emotion from it,” said Jacobs. “It's a black mark. And yet we continue. We’ve got to live on, and we have to do things in their memory.”