Several years ago, I found a contact sheet containing photos taken at the end of 1968 when a winter storm stranded us in Portland, Oregon after spending several days visiting friends in Seattle. Here’s the story originally posted here three years ago.
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. It sticks in my mind as a Christmas storm, but I don’t recall if it was on Christmas, or sometime during that Christmas-New Year week.
Neither of us had much experience with winter driving. We reached the outskirts of Portland and thought we would make it to her family’s home, 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 back 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 in the middle of the process. I hope that picture 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.
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Of course, it was a completely reasonable thing to do back then — drive into the teeth of a snowstorm with a 1960’s slant-6 engine and rear wheel drive. What could possibly go wrong?
It seems to me that we left Seattle expecting to be well ahead of the storm. Another “completely reasonable thing to do back then,” I guess.
Was that a Dodge Dart with the push button gear changing?
Yup. Push the button to select the gear.
Yes.
What a wonderful and vivid story—it really brings that chaotic, cold night to life. The detail about feeding the Christmas tree into the fireplace to keep warm is such a powerful image of resilience and family pulling together in a crisis. It’s amazing how a difficult, even scary experience can become a cherished part of your history.
You mentioned still having a photo of the tree being dismantled. Have you ever thought about trying to digitally restore or colorize any of these photos from that storm, now that technology makes it easier, to preserve that memory for your family?