Faith carries her to speak about Mumbai ordeal

"We heard everything; the noise was horrible. They were blowing in doors and shooting people," said Stadelmann, of Brockton. "I didn't dwell on the fear or thinking of dying; we just went into a kind of survival mode. I felt we'd get out, because of my faith."

Her faith includes praying the rosary every day, and she did so during the ordeal, even though her rosary was in her suitcase, which was by their room door, packed and ready for a trip they were taking to Nepal the next day. Neither she nor Willy dared go near the door for fear of catching gunfire through it, she said.

They were rescued by members of the Indian Army Special Forces 16 hours after terrorists seized the hotel and began killing people, leaving about 200 people dead. The departure was a painstakingly slow process that took an hour and brought them past blood-soaked rooms and walls.

Faith kept the fear away then, Stadelmann said, and she's counting on faith to help her next Saturday, when she speaks before an anticipated crowd of 3,000 at Family Rosary Fest, scheduled for 1 to 4 p.m. at W.B. Mason Stadium at Stonehill College in Easton.

The event, free and open to the public, is presented by the Easton-based Holy Cross Family Ministries. Although she doesn't like public speaking, Stadelmann wants to spread the word of how her faith helped her in a time of immense need. Her talk is titled "The Rosary in Times of Crisis."

Stadelmann is 65, a stay-at-home mother who raised five children. She's been married to Willy Stadelmann, an electrician, for 42 years. The couple summer in Onset, a village in Wareham, and take one big trip a year, she said.

The day after the hotel was taken over by terrorists, the Stadelmanns lay on the floor between a wall and their bed, in the dark in their hotel room, wet blankets and sheets over them and stuffed in the crack of the door to keep out smoke from the burning building.

"My husband had his laptop under the bed and was sending messages back and forth to our eldest daughter [Kristin] back in Boston. It's the only way we knew what was happening," Stadelmann said. The couple had been phoned by hotel security and told that gunmen were in the building and to stay put.

They had already made a rope of sheets, in case they had to escape their room, she said. But then the knock came at the door, which instilled the fear in them they'd been dreading, not knowing who was there. Soldiers identified themselves and the Stadelmanns were led away by six soldiers and a hotel security guard.

"The sprinklers had come on and everything was soaking wet; we were soaking wet, and to get out took an hour. We were hugging the walls, stopping at every corner, every turn of the stairs because terrorists were still in the building," she said. "We saw a lot of blood, but no bodies until we got outside."

The army, she said, wasn't expecting to find anyone besides terrorists. "I think they were surprised to find us," she said. "I'm glad they did."

She said she tries not to think of that day last November, but then she'll see old friends whom she hasn't seen in a while and is reminded of it, through the well-intended support of those friends who bring it up.

"I was just in a store today and saw a lady I hadn't seen in four years," she said last weekend. "She said, 'Gerrie, I saw you on TV,' so we get reminded. But every day I pray the rosary and thank God for getting us out of there. I don't dwell on it. We're focused on the good things."

Those things include, most notably, their children and four grandchildren.

Despite the incredibly frightening experience last year in Mumbai, she remains afraid of public speaking.

"I'm petrified to be up there," she said with a small laugh. "But I couldn't say no because praying the rosary every day keeps me safe, and I want to let people know that."

Saturday's event is part of the ministries' celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of its founder, the Rev. Patrick Peyton, and will include talks by several people, organizers said.

More than 500 young people are expected to make up a living rosary on the stadium field. For information, visit HCFM.org or call 508-238-4095.

Paul E. Kandarian can be reached at kandarian@globe.com.