Widow of fallen soldier running Boston Marathon in her husband's memory

BOSTON — A Gold Star wife of a fallen Green Beret soldier is running her first Boston Marathon in her husband's memory.

Allie Emond never wanted to be here, on this Boston Marathon weekend, in the Seaport District at the Massachusetts Fallen Heroes Memorial, without her husband, U.S. Army Sgt. First Class Eric Emond, a Fall River native who was killed in Afghanistan in November.

"He was just an incredibly generous person who wanted the right thing for people, for his country. He was a true Patriot," she said.

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But she is here, now as a Gold Star wife, at the memorial and the organization her husband helped to create.

"He didn't want his name on the memorial to start it. He just wanted to help the families that are in my shoes right now," Allie Emond said.

She is also here to run her first Boston Marathon, in the city where she and her husband met and started a family, all to honor Eric's memory.

"I don't want my husband's name to be forgotten. Losing a family member isn't temporary. It's not something you get over. It's not something you move past. It's something that hurts every day," she said.

She is now raising the couple's three young children, but she is not completely alone.

There is Massachusetts Fallen Heroes helping to support her, and other families, just as her husband wanted.

"He wanted to make sure that his family was taken care of, and in a horribly ironic way, he's still taking care of us," she said. "Eric should be next to me, not on a memorial."

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