Ohio Blizzard, 1978

Sidney, Ohio

7 February 1978

My dear Bob & Charlotte,

Thank you so very much for the Lowell Thomas book. It is most interesting, of course, and very readable. Greenville, about thirty miles from here has always claimed him. He has relatives living there. Since receiving the book I saw him on TV on the Merv Griffin show talking about it. Hugh Downs was also on the same program. He is another Ohio product. He is from Lima. However, his mother was from Sidney and I knew her when she was young. I never knew him.

We don't know anything here but the weather. The first few weeks in Jan. we had snow and cold. We had finally accumulated 24 inches on the ground.

Before it melted the blizzard struck in all its force on Jan 26. The wind was 75 miles an hour. The snow drifted to 12 feet or so. The governor sent in the Ohio Guard some 150-160 strong, three helicopters and heavy equipment from Wright Patterson Air Field. The snow drifted over the roads as fast as they could clear them. It took days for the 800 miles in the county could be cleared. They worked on I-95 first, of course. As of today most of the roads have just one lane.

This county was one of the worst hit in the state. So Sidney was made the headquarters of all this activity. The Guard was housed in the high school and the helicopters landed there. They worked around the clock rescuing people.

With all this we were lucky in Sidney as we had electricity, gas and telephone. Thousands in this area were without any of these for several days. For four days there was no hope of any relief. We just hibernated. Fortunately, I had enough food and was warm. Finally, a boy came along and dug me out. I still have one door that I can't open. My car is in a snow bank and I wouldn't drive it if it wasn't. There is a sheet of ice under all this some two to three inches thick. It is very slippery as the temperature at tnight has been zero or below and there has been no melting in spite of sunshine the last few days. So there is no immediate hope of any relief. It has been quite an experience that I wouldn't care to repeat.

We had no mail or news papers for four days. The local radio stattion did a superb job. They broadcast 24 hours a day and were much help to the Guard about rescue work.

The Red Cross set up shelters in the Presbyterian Church and the Eagles Lodge here. In the church we housed 97 one night and 110 the next. We also fed them. I don't have figures on the Eagles, but at Anna (8 miles north) over 100 were housed in the high school for several days. It is a very small town but it rallied to the problem. There are many tales to be told of this storm.

The Sidney Daily News and the Dayton Journal Hearld both published blizzard extras to be kept as history of the storm.

My love to you both. I think of you often.

Always

Mary

(Mary Line was aunt to Robert Johnson)