Stoneham children react to the Sept. 11 tragedy
Published on October 3rd, 2001
STONEHAM, MA - “This is a piece of history,” said eight-year-old Jeffrey Genest of Maple Street, holding up an unripped Red Sox ticket.
Jeffrey and his dad Bryan Genest of Methuen had plans to see the Sox play the Tigers at Fenway on Sept. 23, but the looming threat of a terrorist strike in Boston changed everything. The threat later proved to be groundless, but the fear that weekend was real. TV news programs aired scenes of an almost abandoned Faneuil Hall. The Sox played, but Jeffrey’s parents didn’t want to take any chances. Bryan had won the tickets in an annual work raffle for the second year in a row; strange things do happen.
“I told Jeffrey that his father and I would never let him go somewhere unsafe or somewhere we were afraid was unsafe,” says Jeffrey’s mother, Jennifer Gear.
That’s when Jeffrey realized history had stepped on his plans.
The terrorist attack sent both raging waves and small ripples through all of America.
“I was scared,” Jeffrey said.
Jeffrey’s older sister Audrey Genest,age 9, wanted to know, “Is this going to happen again?”
Jennifer married Ralph Gear, her longtime Maple Street neighbor, on Sept. 22. Jennifer, Ralph, Jeffrey and six-year-old Colin Gear, whose play dates with the Genest kids brought the new couple together, had planned to depart on a “Familymoon” to Disney World this fall.
“At first Audrey said she didn’t want to go — a nine-year-old saying she doesn’t want to go to Disney World,” Jennifer says, the thought a constant reminder of the weight of recent events.
Parents had some explaining to do after the Sept. 11 attack. In the South School parking lot that afternoon, the after school pick-up was quieter than usual, Genest remembers.
“All the parents were whispering,” Jeffrey says.
“We saw one lady with her daughter saying ‘I have to tell you something,’” Audrey says.
Jennifer talked to her kids in the car. She told them that a very bad accident had happened in New York, planes had crashed into the World Trade Center, and people had died. She tried to tell them about bin Laden, “the bad man.”
“They knew it was a big deal because a lot of people died, but they didn’t know why it was such a big deal... they had nothing to compare this to,” Jennifer says, near tears.
Parents had no easy reference either.
“Parents across the country were winging it,” Jennifer says.
Coincidently, Jennifer had forbidden her children from watching TV the week of Sept. 10 as punishment for some minor shenanigans. The kids saw newspapers and later were allowed to watch some TV news, but she talked to them first.
“I told them why they picked
New York and Washington — to get noticed,” Jennifer says. “I told them they were safe in Stoneham.”
All of America craves safety as the nation recovers from the most devastating terrorist attack in history, but America needs fun to.
The new family members will soon be doing their part down in Orlando. Have fun, guys!
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