A legacy of love: New sports center honors Boston Marathon bombing victim Martin Richard
'It makes our family feel that we continue to fight for him and build a legacy for him,' Richard said. 'This type of work keeps me going.'
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The Fieldhouse+ is a project that has been years in the making. The parcel is leased from the Boston Public Schools. The project ran into some community opposition, partly because it is in a neighborhood soon to be transformed by new development that is making some residents anxious.
Years of design changes, many of them suggested by the neighborhood youth the program will eventually serve, made the project more elaborate - and more expensive. But with $43 million already raised, and strong support from political and philanthropic leaders, it's time to begin construction.
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'We have a pathway we see to the goal of $70 million,' said Bob Scannell, the longtime head of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Dorchester, which will manage the facility. 'And that's why we're ready to go in.'
After Martin's death, the Richard family quickly turned to philanthropy, selflessly turning their loss into a catalyst for helping others. To date, the Martin Richard Foundation has donated $10 million to worthy causes across the region. It fielded a team of runners in the Marathon for a decade, until Bill and Denise Richard decided to
But the family's lives will be forever linked to the Marathon.
It's jarring to think that Martin Richard - forever frozen in memory as a joyous and peace-loving child - would be 20 now.
Martin's older brother Henry, now 23, will be
The Richard family was deeply scarred, literally, by that bombing. Both Martin's mother, Denise, and his sister Jane, then just seven, suffered serious permanent injuries in the bombing. Denise lost vision in one eye, while Jane lost one of her legs.
But to call this family resilient would be a huge understatement.
Henry is graduating soon from Pace University in New York City and hoping to settle, at least for a while, in New York. The bombing - and its huge public significance - gave him a prominence he never asked for.
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'Henry appreciates being recognized (in Boston).' Bill said. 'But I think he also appreciates disappearing in New York City and trying to figure out what the start of his future is going to look like.'
Jane is 19, and a freshman at Skidmore College in upstate New York. She's interested in theater and writing, and hosts a weekly show on the campus radio station called 'Jane Says.'
'Moving away is a big step, and it's always a bit of a roll of the dice,' Bill says, sounding like many an anxious college parent. 'But she's having a great first year.'
And Martin is memorialized in many places. There is Martin Richard Park in the Seaport, of course. And there's also a statue of him at Bridgewater State College, the alma mater of both of his parents. It's been there five years, and over time Bill has noticed a change when he and Denise visit campus.
Incoming students now have to be told who Martin is. Preschoolers in 2013, they only vaguely know the story of the Boston Marathon bombing.
April is a fraught time, always, for the Richard family. They are showered with kindness from friends and strangers, but also deluged with memories. It is the month that forever redefined their lives.
But Marathon Day has also become the day they get to cheer on Henry and celebrate his siblings' resilience, cheering Henry as he makes the turn onto Boylston Street.
'They could have been frightened, or they could have been just triggered,' Richard said. 'Knowing that he's out there and coming down Boylston Street and running by the spot where you know, his life turned upside down, it just you know, it reinforced the idea that maybe we did a few things right as parents.
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'It takes your breath away. So as much as I would rather maybe be elsewhere, as long as he does it, we're going to be there watching him.'
Adrian Walker is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at
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