Snowed In At the School - 1979

One of the many things I remember as a kid is something that revolves around school.  Back when I was younger we moved around the state of West Virginia a lot, but one of the schools I was in for some time was Augusta School in Augusta, WV.   The two years I went there were separate years - one of them was the 1977-1978 school year, when I was in 2nd grade, and the other was the 1979-1980 school year, when I was in 4th grade.  Both years were very memorable, and for the most part I had the same classmates during both.   However, it was a winter day in late 1979 I recall that really stood out.

My mother and I at the time were staying at my grandmother and step-grandfather's place, about a couple of miles southwest of Augusta near the base of Short Mountain.  Getting to school then was a little bit of a challenge, as we lived quite a ways back from the main road then and my grandparents' house was only accessible via two narrow dirt roads that wound their way back through cow pastures and pine forests to the actual house.   You entered both roads via these gates, which had to be opened manually (a BIG pain in the butt, since for some reason I always got that wonderful task then!) and then closed after your car went through the gate, being the owners of the land, the Beery family, had a sizeable herd of cattle they didn't want loosed.  However, of a morning, my uncle Junior (who was in the 8th grade then) and I had to walk all the way to the front gate in order to catch the bus to school, and that could be quite a hike in bad weather.  Generally, since I liked walking along by myself, I took a forest path down below the house out to the gate while Junior walked the road, and it was a good time to think and meditate while I walked (as much as a 10-year-old meditates, anyway!).  That therefore sets the scenario.

For the most part, the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia has pretty manageable winters - we get snow there, but not on the level that some place like Wisconsin or Minnesota gets.  However, there are those occasions where freak blizzards and snowstorms happen, and one of those hit that year in the month of December.   And, that is what this story was about.

Our day started out normal enough, as most of us went through a normal school day in our small 4th-grade class with our teacher, Ms. Mary Day (later she separated from her husband and reverted to her maiden name Magnetti, but she was still Ms. Day at this point).  Although a bit scary at times, having her as a teacher was not too bad, and we managed well.   The day itself was overcast, very chilly, and a bit unusual for December.  By early afternoon though, snow began to fall, and it blanketed the town quickly.  By the time the school day was over, the roads outside were a mess and the snow I recall was coming down very heavy, so much so that our bus couldn't get to the school.  Therefore, about 6 or 7 of us ended up being stranded with Ms. Day, and there was no clear direction as to when we would get to leave given the conditions outside.   But, we made a good time of it, and as many kids our age get, we all needed something for sustenance while we waited.  As it turns out, Ms. Day had a piece of carrot cake left over from her lunch, and she divided it up among the group of us to tide us over until we were able to get home.  That was something I will always remember, because for the longest time I kind of thought of her as a sort of cross between a witch and that mean old lady with all the cats on the next block we all thought was weird.   However, it turned out she was looking out for us in her own way, and as I look back on that, she did a very noble thing taking care of us kids when things seemed uncertain and our parents were all probably freaking out about the whole thing.  

That night, at around 6 or so, the buses were finally able to roll and transported us home.  Fortunately for me, my step-grandfather was down at the gate and I didn't have to walk in that dark and snow all the way over the ridge home - what a blessing THAT was!  At any rate, that was a childhood adventure I will not soon forget.

Stay tuned for more good stuff later, and look forward to you visiting again soon.