Oh, yes, I remember that "Fall's Snowy Crippler" very well. The evening before, I had dinner at a restaurant on route 9 with Dorothy, Barbara, and probably Ruth. The weather had been fair and I was wearing a blouse, and I remember feeling cold. The others had worn long sleeves, maybe light sweaters.
Dave and Don had left for a golf outing in maybe North Carolina, and Dave had left his car at the airport. Marilyn was away at Binghamton. It was David's 17th birthday and he had gone out, with Michael maybe, earlier in the evening. The weather suddenly turned rainy and cold, and we, David, Danny, and I were in for the night.
The 4th was a Sunday and Danny and I attended early Mass in Valley Falls, 8a.m. or so. David would have driven to Schaghticoke for the later Mass; he wasn't a morning person. The rain was starting to turn to snow, light at first as I recall.
But during the Mass, things changed--rapidly. We could hear snapping and cracking as the now heavy snow landed on the trees, which still had all their leaves. It sounded eerie.
As we all left the church after about an hour, the sight was scary. Branches were down all over the place. One large part of a tree was lying across my car, which was parked across from the playground side. A downed wire was lying across my car, along with the tree.
The church had been mostly full, as usual. No one had seen what was coming. The churchgoers were appalled at the sight, all anxious and hurried, wanting to get back home. And since I had at the time been a regular churchgoer, a lector and lector trainer, on the Prayer and Worship Committee, and a parent of kids in Religious Education classes, all or almost all of the people there knew me and we were all on good terms.
But here is where I lost (some) faith in humanity. My car was the only vehicle disabled by the tree and wire. The others were parked in the front of the church. I stood there, with 10 year old Danny, looking at my car. Not a single person evacuating the building offered to help us. One man did call out that I shouldn't go near the car because the wire might be live. The snow was still falling.
Of course, there were no cell phones. I walked with Danny over to the Schroder residence. I wanted help. B. was obsessing because John wanted to go with Kevin to check the storm damage, and she was afraid he'd step on a live wire. But she let me use her phone, which was still working. David was home but had no car, so I didn't call him. I called Madigan's and Rosemary trekked up through the snow- filled and branch-laden road and drove us home.
Later David drove Danny to survey the damage in the village, using Dave's fancy new camera. But Danny was so little that he missed most of the scenery, the pictures being mostly of the car's interior. We were without power for days. At one point, David drove to the high school and took a shower, incurring the displeasure of the custodian. When Gail Madigan found out, she called and said the gym locker rooms would now be open to the public for the duration of the power outage. So all was well that...
