To the Editor:
Every May, former classmates and I recall a long-ago May snowstorm. This year we began mid-April when mere anticipation of May jogged our memories. Was it 1944 or 1945? Were we in 7th or 8th grade? The day was never in doubt because it was my birthday, the 11th.
I think it was Mariette Martin who first suggested a surprise party for me. She and others were grouped around someone’s desk down front in our home-room. Passing by, I overheard them and caught on. I tried to cover up, but one of them saw me and said, “We may as well include you, as we don’t know where we can have the party. Do you think we could go to your cottage?”
Yes, we could, so now Porter was taking a first load out in the Ford. It was snowing and blowing, with poor visibility. By McGinley’s farm, on the uphill curve where the Hodgdon Road came in, the Bangor Road was impassable. Porter would go through almost anything, but even the snowplow had not made it. He suggested changing the party to eating supper at the Heywood Cafe; maybe a movie was to follow. We picked up the others waiting at my parents’ portrait studio and the alternate plan was fine by everyone.
This year, I began thinking that we should be able to verify the year and storm details. I emailed Ted Shapiro, the Weather Whys columnist for the Pioneer Times. It turned out that he is located in Caribou, along with the weather station, and has data available from there and Bangor, but not Houlton. He established that the year was 1945 because in 1944 the 11th was 60 or so degrees in Bangor.
About then I recalled The Diary. Fran, or Franny, Russell Way, had kept a diary and I emailed her.
She replied. “Hi, Byrna Mae, Just happened to have a diary for 1945 and here is what I wrote on Friday, May 11th. ‘Imagine it! Blizzard out today! About 6 or 7 inches. Didn’t go to a meeting. Miss Kelly (my piano teacher) didn’t come. Went to the movies with mama. Saw ‘Counter Attack.’ Especially good, I think.
‘The following day ’cool and fair. Just about all the snow melted today’.’”
This was just too good to believe. Ted Shapiro agreed. He wrote, “This is fantastic information to come across! I always tell my class that lots of valuable historical weather information can be found in diaries.” He then asked for a detailed description of our experience with the snow, including elevation of the location in relation to the main road.
He later found in a data base that on our date, Bangor reported a total of 4 inches and Caribou two and now (72 years later) he was accepting Fran’s 6 or 7 for Houlton. With Fran’s message, my head was in the clouds, too. Still is.
Byrna Porter Weir
Rochester, New York
