When Dad came in the office this morning, he pulled this old photo out of his pocket. It was taken on Valentine’s Day, 1960 (which was a Sunday that year). This is his first house on Highway 67 near Country Club Road. The little munchkin in the photo is “yours truly”, age 20 months.
This was the 2nd largest snowfall that he can remember. He and his younger brother Ralph scraped up the snow to make the heart, which is apparently about 4-1/2 feet tall. Dad said that they would sculpt the snow a bit, then stand back and critique the work, then plaster more snow or scrape more snow away until they got the heart shape exactly like they wanted it. Why they spoiled the picture with a snotty-nosed urchin is beyond me.
Also in this Sunday’s paper was a short blurb in the “Valley of Years Past” column:
50 years ago
Feb. 13-15, 1960An estimated 50 to 75 cars were stranded on Alabama 67 over an area beginning some two miles east of Brooksville in Morgan County during Friday night’s snow. Attempts to free snowbound motorists late Saturday were unsuccessful, according to the local Highway Patrol. The weather bureau said hazardous driving conditions are likely to persist through Sunday.
Dad was very emphatic in his correction of the story. There were a lot of vehicles stranded, especially on Priceville Mountain. The National Guard sent trucks to try to help the motorists, but the soldier’s vehicles got stuck also. They would have stayed there but for two young men in a small red Jeep who showed up with chains and pulled the Guard trucks and the other vehicles to safety. An article in the paper a couple of days later credited the National Guard with the rescue and did not mention the red Jeep. If you haven’t guessed yet, the owner and driver of the Jeep was Dad. He has frequently mentioned this story, always with the (not too bitter) comment about the paper not giving any credit to those who really “saved the day”.
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