Kincardine woman recalls Blizzard of 1971
By: Liz Dadson
January 31, 2021
Shirley Bieman of Kincardine calls it the "Storm to Remember," as she recalls the blizzard that hit southwestern Ontario and shut everything down for three days – Jan. 26-28, 1971:
Fifty years ago, I was a young teacher at Holmesville Public School in Goderich Township with a Grade 5 class.
Tuesday, Jan. 26, 1971, we watched as the storm came in about noon, not an unusual event, hoping maybe it would be a short school day. However, by mid-afternoon, we were told that the roads were closed so the buses couldn’t do their pick-up at the usual time but would be coming as soon as the weather cleared.
Late in the afternoon, we all piled into the gym to watch the television news from CKNX, and we soon realized we would need to do something to feed the 300-plus students, Kindergarten to Grade 8, for supper before the roads were opened and the buses came to take them home.
At that time, the little store in Holmesville was still open and, luckily, the Carnation plant right behind the school was in operation. That first night, dinner was tomato soup with milk from Carnation served in styrofoam cups and peanut butter sandwiches from the country store made with very fresh bread.
As we began to realize that we would be spending the night at the school, sleeping arrangements had to be made. The Grade 4 teacher and I decided that all the Grades 4-5 boys would sleep on the floor in my room, while the girls would sleep in the Grade 4 room.
We had a few blankets that the local people in the hamlet had loaned the school. None of the children had snowsuits they could snuggle up in. Many of the people in Holmesville were not able to get home, themselves, and those who were home didn’t realize we were bunking down in the school that first night or we maybe would have had a few more blankets.
It was indeed chilly, the full wall of windows in the rooms doing a poor job of keeping the howling wind out. In fact, the senior rooms that faced west had piles of snow lying on the bookcases under the windows. Those students slept in the gym.
The teachers in the junior and primary wing slept on chairs brought out from the staff room into the hall. Needless to say, we didn’t get much sleep that night or the next. The children weren’t really scared, seemingly enjoying the adventure of sleeping at school. There were no tears even from the little ones in Kindergarten. I remember going to one of the outside doors about 3 a.m. with a girl from my class to watch the snow swirl about.
The next day, I don’t remember what we did for breakfast but we were thrilled to hear that a convoy of snowmobiles was making the eight-mile trek from Goderich. They brought food, blankets, any necessary medications, etc., plus a change of clothes for any of the teachers who lived in town AND could contact their partners in time to catch the convoy before leaving. I wasn’t one of the lucky ones to get a change of clothes, unfortunately.
What a godsend this was! I remember the joy when I brought hot dogs and chips into the classroom for one of the meals. No more soggy leftover peanut butter sandwiches! Even though we had only one working burner on the stove by the gym, it was amazing how the staff members who took on the task of cooking things for us, were able to feed so many. Luckily, we still had hydro unlike some of the other schools in the area.
I can’t remember all the food items the convoy brought out but I do remember we had a hearty breakfast of oatmeal with lots of brown sugar the second morning. Any food we delivered to our classrooms was accompanied by the statement, “Even if you don’t normally like this, eat it anyway. We don’t know when we’ll get anything else.”
The second night, the kids were so tired we didn’t split up the girls and boys. We just shoved all the desks together in the centre of the room, girls on one side, boys on the other. I started reading a story to them but most were asleep before the book was done.
We did have a few medical emergencies. One of the older girls who had an asthma attack, was taken out by snowmobile to get help. Also, another one of the older girls had quite a severe case of psoriasis. She was taken into Goderich on one of the snowmobiles, Wednesday. She must have been frozen when she got there as we couldn’t find even a warm hat for her to wear for the long ride.
How vain we were, not dressing for the weather at all, students and teachers, alike! A girl in my class was sick to her stomach but seemed to be fine afterwards.
Thursday, Jan. 28, the storm had let up somewhat and we heard some of the buses might be able to get through with the help of the snowplows. One-by-one, the buses indeed did come. We were told that one of the buses could take the teachers who lived in Goderich home (our cars would stay at the school for the time being).
As our bus pulled away from the school, there was still a small group of children waiting for the bus (one of the local teachers stayed behind with the group). We all felt so sorry that we were leaving them behind, but they did get home soon afterwards.
Since Highway 8 was impassible and closed (it would be more than a week before the highway was all cleared), our route home was by way of Bayfield, then north on Highway 21.
This adventure of two nights and three days at school taught me many things:
1. Children take their cues from the people in charge. The teachers didn’t panic so the kids took this all in stride.
2. Dress for the weather! Wear an actual WINTER hat for yard duty!
3. It’s a good idea to rinse styrofoam cups really well after serving tomato soup if you want to use them again. The milk tends to sour making them pretty yucky the second time!
4. Lots of brown sugar makes porridge palatable even for those who don’t really like it.
5. Always take a change of underwear and even a change of clothes when you travel in the winter.
6. It’s okay to wear pants to work. Until that week, all of the female teachers at our school wore only skirts. The pant-suit era started as of Jan. 28, 1971, and we’ve never looked back!
P.S.: The lovely green skirt and matching cardigan with green and yellow flowers that I pulled out of my closet to wear on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 1971, and ended up wearing for three days straight, went into the donation bag never to be worn by me again!
Clearing snow, following the Blizzard of 1971; photo courtesy of The London Free Press
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