My Legendary Snow

Can you believe the weather? Extreme cold… schools out… wow! Every time I hear that schools have called off for snow and hear comments wondering why, I get a flashback memory of the legendary snow that occurred in the early 1950’s in East Tennessee.

It was an unexpected snow that began pelting the ground and within minutes covered the grass completely. The wind blew large snowflakes around in a blizzard fashion. It was a beautiful snow that began laying on surfaces and within an hour had wreaked havoc on roadways. Schools hesitated to send children home. Between the fast laying snow and the hesitation, many children and teachers spent the night in their school. Buses attempted to take the children home, only to get bogged down in snow. Several buses turned back to deliver students to their schools, after seeing the danger of trying to move further on snow drifted roadways.

I was not yet in school, but my older brother and sister were. Concerned about their welfare, my father prepared to drive to my grandparent’s house, two miles away, to retrieve my brother and sister, as they caught the bus from their house. The snow was so deep and the drifts so high that the car and truck were useless. With no phone to call and make sure they were safe at my grandparent’s house, he set out on mule back to forge through the snow. As it turned out, my brother and sister had not made it home and had been left at the school. Hearing that children were snow bound in the schools, my aunt called the school to check on them, and sent a furniture truck to collect them to stay with her in town, a few blocks from the school. She had called home to tell us that they were safe with her. Hearing this, my father made the mule trip back to our house. It was a few days before my brother and sister made it home.

Remembering this event kept directors of schools ever diligent, when making decisions about letting school out for snow. If you have a memory about this event, I would love to hear it. E-mail the editor and he will get it to me.