Worst blizzard in a century no match for Mom

Photo of Athens in the blizzard of 1950
Having been only 3 years old when the big post-Thanksgiving blizzard hit Athens in 1950, my only memory of it was wearing a snowsuit and being up to my armpits in snow. It wasn't until a little over a year ago that my momma told me her own story of that blizzard, and she told it in the most matter-of-fact way, not realizing she was the hero of her own story.

We lived at the top of hilly Woodward Ave., which was itself at the top of the hill on N. Congress St., and it was probably two miles to the old A&P grocery, all downhill. Having seven hungry mouths to feed, my mom set out for the grocery, dragging a sled. She got to the store, loaded up the sled with grocery bags (no "plastic or paper?" then and nothing packaged in lightweight plastic) and set off for home. Well, home was all uphill from there. She had even bought a bag of fresh oranges for her family!

When I asked her how she made it, she recalled that halfway up Woodward Ave., she fell in the snowbanks from sheer exhaustion. One of my brothers was out playing with his friends nearby, and they came to the rescue.

My question to her was, "Where were all of the men?" She had never thought about it, she said. She was in charge of feeding all of us, so she did what she always did: took care of us without complaining about it. I don't know why I was surprised. She took care of the house, five children, worked full-time, was up at 5:00 a.m. to iron our clothes for the day, baked homemade bread and pies and put a healthy, delicious meal on the table every night. It's what she did, who she was. Always modest about her accomplishments, she never once said, "Look at everything I do for all of you." She just did it. Here's to you, Mom!