February 6, 2003, will mark the 25th anniversary of the Blizzard of 1978, a massive snow storm that paralyzed most of New England for almost two weeks.
I was ten years old and in 5th grade when the Blizzard of '78 hit Rhode Island. It was a pretty mild winter until the blizzard hit. When it started to snow the morning of February 6, 1978, it looked like a mild snow storm that would go away quickly, but by 1 p.m., the snow was getting pretty deep and a lot of people were getting worried.
About the same time, our school principal, Mr. Kelleher, came over the loudspeaker and announced that school was being dismissed at 2:30 p.m., 15 minutes early, but at 1:30, worried parents were coming in and taking their children home. My mom came in at 2:00 to pick up my sister, who was in second grade, and I. We only lived about two blocks from Oldham Elementary School and were able to walk home without a problem. My Dad got home at about 3:30, just in time because by 4:30 - 5:00, the snow was deep and non-stop, and the highways were being shut down by the Rhode Island State Police.
Later that night, as my family and I were snug in our house waiting out the blizzard, our neighbor Mary Olson called saying that another of our next door neighbors, Hank and Pat Petcavage, were stuck at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, where Pat worked as an operating room nurse. Hank had gone to pick Pat up and got stuck there. Hank and Pat had a black labrador retriever puppy named Rover who was kept in the garage during the day because he chewed up the house. Poor Rover was in the garage that night, and Mr. and Mrs. Olson were concerned about the dog not being fed and looked after. So Dad and Mr. Olson broke into the Petcavage's garage and rescued Rover. His waterbowl was frozen solid. Dad took Rover to our house, and Erika and I were happy to have another dog playmate to go with our two dogs - Klaus, a chocolate Lab mix, and Heidi, our beagle mix. Heidi, who weighed about 30 pounds, beat up on 70-pound Rover whenever he got too fresh with her.
The Blizzard of '78 meant one other thing: NO SCHOOL!!! Erika and I and all of the neighborhood kids were happy that we did not have to go to school, and we had a ball sledding down the traffic-free streets and exploring the other side of Bullocks Point Avenue without getting hit by a car. We also built snow forts and had snowball fights. The snow was about five feet deep in places. What was a blast for us kids was a curse for the parents who had to spend all day shoveling the stuff from their sidewalks and cars.
Three days later, Hank and Pat got out of the hospital and came and picked up Rover and thanked us profusely for taking care of him. We kids missed a total of nine days of school and had to make it up at the end of the school year. The snow melted that spring, but our memories have not. Twenty-five years later, we still talk about our experiences during the Blizzard of '78.