New Jersey had its share of heavy snow falls. My maternal grandparents lived on a farm in the “Garden State” about a half-mile from the main road in the 60’s. My sister and I had occasion to spend the night, weekend, week, at their house. One winter night at the farm we woke to at least a foot or two of snow. I can remember being impressed by the depth of the snow and how my grandfather used a tractor to plow the road in front of the house down to the main road. “Wow” I thought, there couldn’t be this much snow in the world. That was before my father, being in the Air Force, was transferred to Massachusetts.

Welcome to Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts!

Anyone who has lived in the North Eastern corridor of the United States snickers at 12 inches of snow. Ha! That’s considered a dusting when living in New England. How bad was it??? The worst snowstorm I have experienced was at the age of 11. Dad was deployed to Guam during the Vietnam War for a temporary duty assignment leaving Mom, my sister, two dogs, and I to endure the worst snowfall I had seen in my short lifetime.

The forecast called for snow overnight, maybe a foot or two. It is a fact well known, the weatherman is the only person who can repeatedly give wrong information and still have a job. But let’s be fair, this was at a time before Doppler radar and the sophisticated computers available today. He still was off by, oh, two to three feet in snowfall.

My mother, sister, and I woke to snow drifts nearly kissing the front porch roof, and snow completely covering the windows. My sister’s immediate concern was regarding the condition of the dogs in the backyard. Their doghouse was engulfed in snow. Fortunately, the winds had drifted the snow in a way that the doghouse was covered but an opening was visible in the front of the doghouse allowing their yelps for help to be heard. Our mission was clear: from inside the house, knock the snow from the window, climb out, and dig the dogs out. Once the rescue mission was completed we would tackle the porch and dig out the front door.

Snow Memories of School

In Massachusetts, back in the 60’s closing schools for weather was something that wasn’t even considered. I remember standing in the snow waiting for the bus with my sister, pants under my dress (girls weren’t allowed to wear pants in the school back then), one pair of tights, one pair of wooly socks, shoes, individual plastic bags wrapped around each foot, pushed into a rubber snow boot. Fashion wasn’t considered when frostbite was the topic of conversation.

Not only did we not have snow days but out door recess wasn’t canceled due to a couple feet of snow. After lunch the children were let loose to frolic. The elementary school was situated on a hill with inviting slopes. The driveway up to the school was built up with deep snow covered slopes. At the bottom of the slopes was a chain link fence designating the end of school property. During the winter months, and without school approval, at lunchtime, recess became a slalom festival. The children one and all would converge on the slopes.

Little girls, with pants under dresses, and little boys in snow suits would slid on their rears from the top to the deep bottom of the snow covered slopes narrowly avoiding the fence. Once at the bottom, they laborious climbed back up the slope, struggling with the slippery snow now hardened by sliding bottoms, back to the top and repeated the journey down again accompanied by shrieks of joy. By the end of recess, hems of little girl’s dresses were soaked and numerous children, male and female, lined up at the nurses office seeking first aid for injuries sustained as the result of the battle lost with the chain link fence at the bottom of the slope.