A Wiscasset man was relieved April 15 to hear that his three daughters at the Boston Marathon were all unhurt, following two explosions at this year's event.

Greg Foster's daughter, Grace West, 36, of West Newton, Mass., was in the race. Her two sisters, Abigail Foster and Margaret Foster, were there as spectators, their father said.

About an hour before the explosions, Margaret called her father to let him know Grace had just raced past where they were watching at the bottom of Heartbreak Hill, he said.

After hearing news of the explosions, Foster, a Wiscasset Newspaper reporter, left phone messages for Abigail and Margaret. “I said, 'Please call me. This is an emergency.”

At 4:28 p.m., he got a text from Abigail, saying: “We are safe in a mall right where the explosion happened. Can't make phone calls because of bad service.”

“We know that Grace is OK because she texted (her husband) Marty (West). Marty is currently trying to find her,” the text continued.

“I just breathed a sigh of relief,” Greg Foster said. “I was getting very worried, because it could be anybody (hurt).”

A subsequent text, also from Abigail, read: “We are in Boston Common looking for Grace.”

Greg Foster told Abigail to call as soon as she could. He told her they should get away from public buildings, Foster said.

Foster's son Daniel Foster, a Wiscasset High School graduate now living in Portsmouth, R.I., told the Wiscasset Newspaper he had heard from his friend Connor Hannan, a former classmate at Wiscasset Middle School who works in the Boston area. Hannan's text said he was OK, and that an explosion had occurred about a block and a half from the banking center where Hannan works, Daniel Foster said. He did not know where Hannan was when the explosion occurred.

In a telephone interview April 16, some 20 hours after the explosions at the race, Grace West said she and her family were doing OK.

West said she had raced to just beyond Kenmore Square and was about a half-mile or so from the finish line when police stopped her. “They just said, 'Stop, the race is over,'” West said.

A bystander let West borrow her phone so she could text her husband.

 “And a man with a camera on a bike brought blankets over,” she said.

Medical workers, police and others assisting in the area were very organized in their response, West added.

West said she would “absolutely” want to take part in another Boston Marathon.

West's run raised $5,075 for America SCORES Boston, benefiting various programs for inner-city children, her father said.

For more information on the explosions and unfolding events, here is one source for live, updated coverage from a variety of media and publications.

Susan Johns can be reached at 207-844-4633 or sjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com