October 4 Snowstorm---32 Years Ago

       Ah,  I remember it well. The evening before, I had dinner with Dorothy and Barbara at a now closed restaurant in Latham. The other girls wore sweaters, but I had on a blouse, and I remember being cold in the restaurant. I don't remember what we ate, just feeling miserably chilled.
     The next morning was Sunday, and I went to the 8 o'clock Mass with Danny, who was 10. Dave had left on Friday for a golf trip somewhere, with Don, and had left Car #1 at the airport.  Marilyn was away furthering her education.We left David home; he was 16, driving, and would attend a later Mass. He liked to sleep in.
     It may have been lightly snowing that morning, but things quickly picked up. While we were in church, we heard  loud cracking noises. We soon found that the rapidly falling snow was causing the still-green,  fully leafed branches to break off.  Exiting the church, we saw broken-off branches all over, and downed wires. One of the power lines was lying on my car. Danny and I stood there, knowing not to go near the car, wondering what to do.  The snow was still falling. People were coming out of the church, awed by the sight of the devastation, and evidently in a hurry to get home. I knew them all then, being an active churchgoer, a lector, and on various committees. I'm standing there with a young child and not one  offer to help. One man did call out, seeing the downed wire across my car, that I shouldn't go near it, as it might be a live wire.
     So we walked over and saw B. who was in a fit of anxiety because her son and a friend were intent on walking around to see the results of the storm. We all knew there were wires down, some maybe still live.She was afraid to try to get her car on the road.  I used  the phone there to call Madigan's. There was nobody else around, Dave and Don away playing golf, and David at home, but with no car.
       In short order, Rosemary came tooling up, having to avoid all the downed branches and debris still in the road. She drove us home. Later, I complimented her on her bravery in driving through all the obstacles. Well, she said, it was early when you called, and I had no idea what the conditions were like. (She most likely would have driven to our rescue anyway.