Meda and I were in our senior year at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. We had been spending time together during the fall semester, and as the holidays approach, made plans to visit friends in Seattle, then drive down to Portland and spend Christmas with her family.

It wasn’t a bad plan, but we hadn’t counted on the snow storm that moved in as we were on a freeway somewhere between Seattle and Portland.

We thought we were going to make it as we reached the outskirt of the city, but then the car, well, kind of just kind of sputtered and froze up. We coasted to a stop, not knowing where we were. Surveying our situation, we saw a doctor’s office nearby and walked there for help, and just to escape the cold. The staff were not happy, since they wanted to get to their own homes, but they let Meda use the phone. She reached her mom, who was able to get a neighbor, Len Hufford, a contractor with a pickup truck, to come to our rescue.

Safely at Meda’s house, it wasn’t too long before the storm knocked the power out, and with it went the electric heating system. As it got colder, Meda’s mother went into action. Bit by bit, the christmas tree was dismantled and fed into the fireplace, piece by piece, as we all huddled nearby. It got us through the night. Somewhere I have a photo of the tree, somewhere in the middle of the process. I hope it turns up one of these days.

We had left the car where it stopped, figuring we could come back to pick it up when the weather cleared. Unfortunately, thieves got there first, broke the driver’s side fly window and made off with most of our possessions. That was a pain, but we were mostly happy to have survived the blizzard, and we got our first lesson in dealing with insurance companies.

All things considered, we must have enjoyed the experience. We were married eight months later.

Just click below to scroll through this batch of found photos.