Associated Files
Title
WBUR Oral History Project: Christie Coombs
Creator
Coombs, Christie (Interviewee)
Contributor
O'Brien, Joanna Shea (Interviewer)
McDonough, Ryan (Contributor)
McDonough, Ryan (Contributor)
Language
English
Date created
January 28, 2014
Type of resource
Sound recording
Genre
Interviews
Oral histories (document genres)
Oral histories (document genres)
Format
Sound Recording
Digital origin
born digital
Abstract/Description
Countless lives were affected by the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings and their
aftermath. The WBUR Oral History Project collects stories from individuals whose lives were
immediately and irrevocably changed by these events. Thanks to the generous sponsorship
of WBUR, our team of oral historians, and the participation of these interview subjects, Our
Marathon has tried to ensure that these stories are not forgotten. We believe that these
stories matter, and that they demonstrate the ways historical events transform the lives of
the people who lived through them. Oral historians Jayne K. Guberman, Ph.D., and Joanna Shea
O'Brien conducted the interviews for this project. Oral History Project Manager Kristi
Girdharry, Our Marathon Project Co-Director Jim McGrath, and Community Outreach Lead Joanne
DeCaro recorded the interviews and provided research assistance and post-interview processing.
McGrath and Our Marathon Audio Technician Ryan McDonough provided sound editing and processing
for all of the interviews and clips. The opinions and statements expressed in interviews and
related content featured in the WBUR Oral History Project do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of Our Marathon, WBUR, Northeastern University, or any employees or volunteers
affiliated with these institutions and projects. Our Marathon and The WBUR Oral History
project make no assertions about the veracity of statements made by participants in this
project. Christie Coombs is a freelance journalist, the Founder and President of the Jeffrey
Coombs Memorial Foundation, and serves on the Board for the Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund
(MMHF) and the American Red Cross Blood Services. Christie's husband Jeffrey Coombs died on
September 11th, 2001 on American Airlines Flight 11. In this extensive oral history interview,
Coombs recounts the day he died, how she told her children, and how her family and the
Abington, MA community supported her in the days and weeks that followed. Because the Coombs
family was showered with cards, meals, gifts, tickets to concerts and sporting events in the
aftermath of September 11th, she and her children decided to pay it forward by hosting a yard
sale for non-traditional 9/11 families who had not received as much support, including gay
couples, immigrant families, and adult children of 9/11 victims. Their first event was a yard
sale and auction that raised $50,000, and that effort evolved into the Jeffrey Coombs Memorial
Foundation, which continues to raise and donate money to people in need affected by any
adverse circumstances as well as provide scholarships for Abington students. Since its
founding, the foundation has raised more than $350,000. Christie also hosts an annual
Christmas party at Gillette Stadium (in Foxboro, MA) for the families of Massachusetts
soldiers deployed overseas in the fight against terrorism, as well as for families whose
soldier had died while serving Christie was at the Boston Marathon finish line on April 15th,
2013 to support the runners for her charity as well as runners for the MMHF when the bombs
detonated. She describes the first and second explosions and thinking it might be a terrorist
attack, but she dismissed that as ridiculous, until she remembered her family was already
victim to terrorist attacks on American soil. She helped a police officer pull down the
barricade as he was ordering people to get out of the chute area at the finish line. She
describes her efforts to reconnect with her daughter, Meg, who had separated from her only a
half hour before near the finish line. Christie also discusses her efforts to help families
who were victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, talking to them about how to get through the
holidays, the difficulty in making sure that the terrorist attack and the victims are not
forgotten yet still memorialized in an appropriate reflective way as well as her friendship
with Carlos Arredondo and other marathon families.
Notes
The opinions and statements expressed in interviews and related
content featured in the WBUR Oral History Project do not necessarily reflect the opinions of
Our Marathon, WBUR, Northeastern University, or any employees or volunteers affiliated with
these institutions and projects. Our Marathon and The WBUR Oral History project make no
assertions about the veracity of statements made by participants in this project.
Source note
The WBUR Oral History Project. Christie Coombs (Oral History),
Joanna Shea O'Brien (Oral Historian and Recorder), Ryan McDonough (Sound Editing and
Processing)
Related item
Our Marathon The Boston Bombing Digital Archive
Subjects and keywords
Boston Marathon Bombing, Boston, Mass., 2013
Permanent URL
Location
Northeastern University Library
Use and reproduction
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Requests for permission to publish material should be addressed to Northeastern University Library's Digital Scholarship Group (dsg@neu.edu).
Requests for permission to publish material should be addressed to Northeastern University Library's Digital Scholarship Group (dsg@neu.edu).