I was managing editor of The Sun at the time. My most vivid memory of the Blizzard of 1978 was having a huge battle with then-General Manager Jim O’Hearn. ![]() Drove back to Boston to dig out The Sun car at Lechmere a week or so after with Sun photographer Mike Pigeon. Walked back and caught the train to Lowell Friday. Walked to Medford - Medford! - on the fourth day to stay at a friend’s house. Spent the next two days wandering around Boston and sleeping at the old Commonwealth Armory, set up as a shelter. Woke up and called in the Beanpot story and a story on my predicament to the newspaper. I pulled down four wooden seats in the loge section and used my coat for a pillow. Fans were hanging around, playing broom hockey, chanting “Har-ry, Har-ry” when Mr. I remember opening a side door from North Station to head home and being blasted back into the building. Announcement: Trains shutting down … do I stay or do I go now? First real sports assignment. It started snowing on my way into the Garden. I was a Northeastern co-op covering the Beanpot Hockey Tournament. It was a great winter vacation in our own home! The governor gave us all a week off from the routine and we had much fun playing, both indoors and out. We were OK, we checked in on our parents, family and senior neighbors, making certain they had enough food staples and were all OK. I was in a happy little world away from all manner of accidents, as my young family and I spent it in Pawtucketville. Those where the days when parents where throwing kids out of the house. We were 22 years old, we just weren’t staying in the house. A woman on Bunker Hill Avenue asked us to call people and tell them she was OK. Most of them said “brandy from Manning’s Package store.” We hauled it down by sled, cases of beer, too, and stopped at Fruean’s Market. We went door to door and asked the elderly people if we could get them anything. I grew up on Billings Street in Centralville. Those papers are older than most of our nieces and nephews.” I think this year will be a good time to pull them out and show them a storm they have never seen. I said, “No way, that box has every Lowell Sun from the Blizzard of ’78. I moved last year and my wife came across a box filled with old newspapers. I made more money in that week than I would have at my new job. I lived in Centralville and went shoveling throughout the neighborhood for days. However, the company had to close down for the week and I had my first vacation from work. I was 19 years old starting a new job that week in Burlington. It was rewarding to know we did a good deed by servicing customers who worked 24/7 to help our community dig out. People who ventured out came in to buy slices of bread and bags of coffee. No grocery stores were open, there were no ATMs and businesses were still closed. Day three, my mother and sisters made it into work. Weary public servants were grateful for food and coffee in a haven with friendly faces. That night we got a ride home in a snowplow.ĭay two, the coffee was abundant, hot and flowing. Chelmsford Center was a winter wonderland with no cars. Our only customers were town officials, police and fire officers, DPW snowplow drivers and private plow operators. We opened very early and worked until almost 9 p.m. ![]() This was a necessity, to feed the public servants. The next day, we got a ride to the diner from one of Chelmsford’s finest. My father assured them he’d be there if he could dig out. The day before the blizzard, my parents were asked by DPW workers, police officers and others if the diner would be open with the predicted bad snowstorm. My sister Patti and I worked there full time. My parents, Ann and Jimmie Lloyd, were the proud operators of Jack’s Diner in Chelmsford Center. Kick back, make a cup of cocoa and take a snowy walk down memory lane. The story of the brothers Macheras is one of many we’ve heard over the past month. ![]() Rather than dividing us, drifts of snow knit communities together. The biggest accumulations were in Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts, 30 to 38 inches. 6, 1978, Lowell received a 24- to 30-inch dumping.
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