Months before his death on Thursday, Tom Menino recalled his memories of the 2013 Boston Marathon, the bombing and the week of terror that followed to NECN.
Marathon Monday had always been one of his favorite days of the year. For almost two decades, he sat in the front row of the grand stands and crowned the male winning. But in 2013, he was watching it on TV, cheering from his hospital bed after an operation the Saturday before.
"Then 2:50 in the afternoon, my security ran into the office, into the room, and said to me, 'Mayor, we just had a bomb explosion at the finish line.' And I was, 'Get the commissioner on the line,'" Menino said.
Menino took control, telling his staff to stay calm and to make sure the public knew the mayor was in charge and would keep them informed.
"I didn't know what it was, I really didn't have any idea, but I was frightened," he said.
Then, the mayor made a decision. Despite doctors' orders to stay in his hospital room, he got up and left.
"You're the mayor. It's about leadership," he said, adding that he didn't care about the doctors' objections. "I said I was going."
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By late afternoon, Menino was in front of the camera for a series of news conferences. The next morning, he went to visit victims at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
"The thing that impressed me the most was the courage, the resilience that these folks have. They weren't griping about anything, they were there, their families were there, it was amazing to me," he said.
The visit inspired an idea that he then shared with one of his top aides, Dot Joyce.
"I tell Dot, 'We've got to do something to help these victims,' and she said, 'What do you want?' 'Let's start a fund, but I only want one fund, not five or six funds,'" he said.
Thus the birth of the One Fund, a collaboration with Governor Deval Patrick and top business leaders. It has raised more than $72 million for victims. By Thursday, the mayor was at the prayer service in the South End, which was also attended by President Obama.
When he went to bed that night, three days after the bombing, the city was on edge knowing the suspects were still on the loose.
"Then about 2:50 in the morning, the governor calls me up and says, 'We have an issue here, we have a lot of rumors about where these individuals might be,'" Menino recalled.
Based on rumors about the whereabouts of the suspects, Governor Patrick was suggesting something Menino had never heard of: a so-called shelter-in. As the rumors continued to fuel fear and concern, the mayor decided that shelter-in was the way to go.
"It was amazing to me how the people cooperated. Everyone cooperated. The Dunkin' Donuts shops, you couldn't buy a cup of coffee in the city," he said.
That Friday, Menino spent most of the day in Watertown. By late afternoon, he was with police as they zeroed in on a residential neighborhood.
Then, there was a big break.
"They said, 'We've got him cornered in the boat,'" he said. "I heard Billy Evans yell out, 'Hold your fire, hold your fire,' and then about five minutes later, he comes over the thing, 'We've got him, we've got him.'"
The first thing through his mind? "Thank God. Thank God we've got him. It's over."
Menino said he would never forget what happened next.
"I was so proud to be an American, on the street corners there were people singing God Bless America, flags flying, that was very special to me," he said.
