Comments on: Living Memory History: The Blizzard of ’79

By: Gloria Beth Ferguson

Gloria Beth Ferguson — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 13:05:40 +0000

I remember it well. We were buried for four days.
My daughter will always remember it too. After the storm she got her snow suit on to go play awhile in the snow.
She stuck her tongue to aluminum steps. If she was hurt bad there was no way to gt her to Dr. She had quite a burn on her tongue but was ok. Yes we remember. Not sure if it was the same yr but once when temps were very low n hi winds our LP gas froze. Luckily we had a fireplace.
Back then the winters were very harsh. Can remember wind chills of -80. And it stayed in a hard freeze all winter. Over the yrs it seems the climate has changed n is not that cold anymore.
Freeze levels were 6ft down. That’s a solid freeze.
I miss those days.

By: Heidi

Heidi — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 06:05:08 +0000

I was a freshman at Bettendorf high school. I thought I heard someone say that with the wind chill it was 70 below. If we needed to go somewhere we had to walk. We were stuck without cars for many many days. And Bettendorf had better plow service Over Davenport.

By: John Sterling

John Sterling — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 19:05:20 +0000

We were living on a farm near Lexington,KY during the blizzards of ’77 and ’79. The ground froze 2 feet down breaking water pipes from the well to the house both years. It took the state 8 days before they cleared Parsons Lane and we could get to town. Sold the farm in July and relocated to California. Never Again!!!

By: Scott Forsberg

Scott Forsberg — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 17:56:29 +0000

I’ll never forget that winter, WOW! Snow was to the gutter line at my house. My parents still have pictures from this huge storm.

By: Alexandra Hallmark

Alexandra Hallmark — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 14:28:33 +0000

I was 17 when that snow storm hit. We were living 30 miles north of the QC. The morning after the storm, my father woke my brother and I up and said we had to shovel out. What he really meant was to get the ladder out and shovel the roof of our house! As well as the deck.
The snow drifted over the peak of the house and squared up on the back of roof line. The fun part was jumping off the roof into the snow pile below when we finished.

By: Teresa Rennick Rogers

Teresa Rennick Rogers — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 03:26:58 +0000

I was a college freshman in Midway, KY when my mother who resided in Moline passed away in January 1979. I made the drive with my grandparents from Cave City, KY to Moline for her funeral, and remember it snowing so hard that I believe there was a flash of lightning as we drove to the cemetery. We could barely see and the wind buffeted us terribly on that hillside overlooking the Rock River valley and the area that is now Southpark Mall. We returned to my aunt’s house on Kennedy Drive in East Moline. When we awoke, the doors to the house were snowed shut so we shoved one of my cousins out a window so he could come around and dig the front door open. Highways were closed and I was stuck in Illinois for two weeks. I was overwhelmed when I returned to college, having to make up two weeks of missed schoolwork. My mom sure picked a fine time to die!

By: Amy D.

Amy D. — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 19:28:21 +0000

As my little felt hat kept blowing off my head today as I walked through downtown Davenport, it made me think of the lady's hat in this week's picture. Since most hats were kept on the head using hat pins stuck through the hair, usually near a bun, I can only imagine the pain of hair being pulled when the wind got hold of that one!

By: swesson

swesson — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:55:49 +0000

Hey, all of us in Special Collections remember that blizzard just fine—it hit southern Ohio and Chicago as well as other places, too. And some of us were only half the height of the snowbanks and busy enjoying our days off elementary school at the time.

Old-timers indeed! :^)

By: Adrian

Adrian — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:27:58 +0000

I work with a lot of QC oldtimers here at the Arsenal, and this last week they have all been talking about 1979 and the feet and feet of snow and the bitter cold. I (in my relative youth and non-local-ness) didn’t believe them, but I guess their memories are better than I was giving them credit for!!