Mary O’Kane, 85, tugs at the carillon ropes in the bell tower of Arlington Street Church in Boston on Thursday, April 18, 2013. The church is just a couple of blocks from the Boston Marathon bombing sites, and she played patriotic tunes to inspire the heartsick.BOSTON – As 85-year-old Mary O’Kane strained at the bell ropes in the steeple of historic Arlington Street Church, she imagined the sounds spreading a healing across her city – and the land.
Sprinkled amid hymns like “Amazing Grace” and “A Mighty Fortress,” patriotic tunes like “America the Beautiful” and “God Bless America” wafted down from the 199-foot steeple and over Boston Common across the street. O’Kane, known to parishioners as “Woody the bell ringer,” hoped President Barack Obama, who was attending a service at a nearby Catholic cathedral, might hear them and be comforted, as she was.
“I feel joyful. I feel worshipful. I feel glad to be alive,” she said, casting a sideways glance two blocks down, where twin bombs shattered the triumph of the Boston Marathon on Monday. “Eastern philosophy believes a lot in vibrations. And it’s certainly vibration that the bells send out all over the place.”
O’Kane, who has been playing the 16-bell carillon since 1981, was at her home on Beacon Hill reading a book when the pressure-cooker bombs exploded, killing three people and wounding nearly 200 more. But her shock soon turned to pride, as she watched the response from the city, and the nation.
“This is a fantastic town,” she said. “I’ve seen ads everywhere since then: ‘I’ll sleep with a friend and you can have my bed if you’re stranded.’ ‘I have an extra bedroom, an extra bed.”‘