Great Chicago Blizzard of 1967

Exerts and two photos from an article written by Jim Allsopp, Warning Coordination Meteorologist
40th Anniversary of the January 1967 Blizzard

Greatest snowfall in a calendar day - 16.4 inches on January 26, 1967. (this was surpassed when 18.6 inches fell on January 2, 1999.)

Greatest snowfall in a 24 hour period - 19.8 inches January 26-27, 1967

Greatest snowfall from a storm - 23.0 inches January 26-27, 1967

Greatest snow dept - additional snows brought the snow depth to 27 inches by February 6, 1967. (this was surpassed when 29 inches covered the ground January 14, 1979.) A total of 36.5 inches of snow fell on the city during the 11 day period from January 26 through February 5, 1967, which is close to normal snowfall for an entire season! Snow covered the ground until March 10.

Greatest snowfall for a season - The winter of 1966-1967 set the record for Chicago with a total of 68.4 inches. (The record was surpasses in 1969-1970, 1977-1978, and 1978-1979.)

Moe Wrote: Mary! What ever happened to your car? Did it end up getting towed?

I remember you called to say you were stuck/broken down.....did you run out of gas?

We all hopped into the car and took THREE hours to get to where the car was (from Ashland to just east of Kedzie east of the viaduct on 79th). You were gone of course by then so Michael and I ran up to an apartment building and knocked, we asked if you'd been there but you were not.

There was another apartment building across the street had a HUGE snow drift in front of it and we figured there was no way you could have gone in that place....but actually that is where you'd been but the drift formed after you left there! I think the people at the apartment let mom call your house and you were home by then so then we turned around and went home.

I know Robert was driving, Mommy was with us, me and Mike, but I don't remember if Geri was there too, were you Ger?

That day we had been let out of school early (I was in 6th grade), we had so much FUN!!

Shoveling tunnels and playing playing playing in the snow every day, all weekend.

It was so much FUN! That weekend Mrs Walsh told us that she'd make hot chocolate for us if we shoveled her sidewalk so me, Mike, and Eddy spent hours shoveling, then it turned out she had NO MILK....she had a plan didn't she?

So we went to the store for milk. We walked down the middle of 79th street...no cars in sight... to every store...High-Low, Shoplo, Crosstown, National....no milk, so then we walked down Ashland, right down the middle, no cars!! No buses!!

Finally at Kroger we found milk, went back to Eddy's and had hot cocoa. Yum.

I also remember Robert dove off the back porch, head first into the snow....he wouldn't let anyone else in the yard first, then we all dove. It was too much fun. As a kid the Blizzard of 1967 was a blast!

Geri Wrote: In 1967 I was a sophomore is High School. I happened to be off of school that Thursday . Maybe report card or something. I had stayed overnight at Mary's Wed night.( Mary would pick me up on the corner of 79th Paulina at a certain time..possibly 5pm from work , and that is how I would get to her house.) The reason I went to her house was because I had no boots. I had worked and saved my money to buy some boots. Mary was going to take me shopping at Korvettes, across the street from the apartment. We were going to go that Thursday night.

I sat all day watching the snow by myself. Mary had called me at 3pm to say she was leaving early because of the snow. She was doing great until she came to 79 and the viaduct. She called me and was trying to get a ride home or something. When she got home at 9:30pm..There was a faint knock at the door. I opened it and Mary was hysterical crying. She was covered in snow..and seemed like icicles. She went in the bathroom to change her clothes and get warm. Mary cried hysterical in the towel that was hanging in the bathroom. I just held her and cried too. We were so thankful that she got home safe. Mary thumbed a ride..Lol

She will have to tell you all about that! I never did get the boots then. The next day Mary was a wreck about their car, like someone towing stealing it etc. So we decided to walk there...all the way down Southwest Hwy..in the middle of the street..it was so weird. We had stopped at a friends house. She just make pizza with hamburger on it. It was the first time I had it..it was delicious. We were cold and hungry. Finally made it to her car and it was just fine along with hundreds of other cars! Glad I was there with Mary..but always wished I was home to see the excitement in the neighborhood!!!

Forgot to add that I wore Jimmy's boots..too big..all the way to her car and back..

1964

We went to a small Catholic school called Sacred Heart on the Southside of Chicago. So small that when I was in 3th grade and Michael was in 2nd grade we were in the same classroom together. The following school year was the first time we were going to have school photos taken, it was a very exciting day.

We didn't have to wear our uniforms to school that day so I wore a skirt, white blouse, and my favorite orange sweater. Michael and I were late for school as usual (our family was late for church every Sunday, my mother would march all of us kids up the center aisle to the our pew, the first pew in the front of the church).

Michael and I were running up our tree lined block, no other kids were around, 7 more blocks to run...we were really late...when suddenly a bird crapped right smack in the middle of Michael's freshly combed head!

He stopped and let out a yell!! I carefully surveyed the top of his head, I was taller so I had no problem seeing a really gross milky white gooey glob of bird crap. He began to wail really loudly. He wanted to go home to wash it out but we were late so I convinced him to hold still while I.............

spit in his hair and cleaned up the mess with my recently ironed white hanky. I can still remember standing there spitting and carefully wiping to it out of his hair while my heart was pounding knowing that the nuns were going to kill us for being late!

Here is a photo of (me) Maureen, age 9,

on that fateful day. Notice the orange sweater.

Oh! Notice my goofy bangs, the nun was just as nervous about photo day as we were. She had a comb in her hand so as we stood quietly in single file line she combed each kid's hair. My bangs were straight bangs, why she combed them to the side I'll never know, but of course I was scared to death to change what she had done so my bangs will live on in infamy, combed to the side.

Following is a photo of Michael but not from that same day, darn it, we can't find that picture!

He was 10 in the photo below.

This photo was taken at a different school after we moved in 1966.

Irish Twins

Irish Twins

Moe was born Feb 6, 1955. Mike was born Dec 20, 1955.

Mary was 9 that year, Rob was 7, and Geri was 4.

Our mother celebrated her 40th birthday that year,

and our father celebrated his 49th birthday that year.

Were they nuts.... or just Catholic!

Moe and Mike, 1959
Moe and Mike, Easter Approx 1958
Mike and Moe, Valentine's Day, Approx 1959

Mike and Moe, 2005

Fifty Years Old

March 1955

Rob, Mary, Geri, and baby Maureen

Piggy Bar

Mike Wrote: Who the h*ll is Peggy Bar?

Rob replied: THAT'S ME

Moe wrote: Yes Michael I remember..you were so adorable when you were little saying "Piggy Bar"..we have had fun with it.

Mary wrote: It is Piggy Bar

When Michael was mad at Robert, he would say, "you, you, PIGGY BAR". Michael couldn't say Robert.

So we started calling Robert Piggy Bar and when Robert Scott was born he was Piggy Bar ll

Moe wrote: BTW, that's my handwriting on the back of Robert's photo. It is an 'i' not an 'e' in Piggy.

Mary Wrote: and isn't Robert adorable!!!

Who Is This?

Michael wrote: Can anyone tell me who this is..Mary-Bob-geri-moe
Date on pic is Jan 1971

And from there came an assortment of memories:

Maureen wrote: MIKE!! Are you testing us or don't you know?

Jan 1971, you and I went up to 80th Street ON Ashland at an appliance store to stand in line to see none other than the famous BOBBY HULL!!!

We stood in line for a long time, and then because I had to babysit I had to leave so I gave you my camera (Instamatic 126 that Mary gave me for Christmas 1969). You took the pictures!

Do you remember?

Moe

Mike's reply: Just testing you moe

Back of photograph

Moe: Hee hee hee! You have a good sense of humor Mike!!

What was the best thing you ever got for Christmas as a kid?

Mine was the big doll that was as big as me when I was 5 or 6, and the other was a camera that Mary gave me when I was 13. (Also the white furry hooded coat Rob (and Barb?) gave me when I was 13....loved that thing and wore it till it literally died!)

Have a Merry Christmas!

Moe

Michael is on the right

(Barb do you recognize the photo album this picture is sitting on?)

Mary Chimes in: did you bring Scott with you? don't we have a picture of Scott with Bobby Hull?

Moe: I don't remember Scott being with us. I kind of doubt it because it was cold and we had to stand in line for a long time.

Michael do you remember Scott being with us?

The only photos I remember was maybe 2 or 3 photos of Bobby Hull just like the one Michael put on the email, of him sitting at a table.

Moe

Michael can you name everyone in this photo?

Mary: remember Scott with the Blackhawks sweatshirt on, sitting on a fire truck?
maybe that is what I am thinking of?

Moe: Yes, I have a photo of Scott in a BlackHawks Sweatshirt that Michael and I bought for him. We were nuts about the Blackhawks, about as nuts as we are about the SOX now. We used to TAPE the games off the radio on a cheap orange cassette tape player we had and then listened to them later!! I STILL HAVE THE TAPES!!! But that tape player was so cheap that the voices are not audible anymore, Scott is talking on the tapes too but again, bad sound so it sounds like nothing. That was when Scott was 2.

Mike and I lived for the Blackhawk games! I was crazy about Keith Magnuson. When he was a rookie he always got into fights and was bloody. Of course the tv was black & white, and there was only ONE view from the camera on the tv and that was from the highest seat in the stadium so you could see all the action at once, we never got to see blood or even faces close up like they do it now. We loved it anyway!

This is how we watched Hockey too.

We also loved Stan Mikita, Dennis Hull and Bobby Hull (brothers), Tony Espisito the best goalie EVER! Phil Espisito, his brother, was on the Boston Bruins, we loved when they played against each other.

Mike do these names ring a bell? Cliff Koroll, Chico Maki, Lou Angotti, Eric Nesterenko (I was in love with him too), Jerry Korab, and Gerry Desjardins.

I even had a SCRAPBOOK of pictures and articles I cut out of the newspaper about the 1969, 1970, 1971 Blackhawks. I think they took the Hawks off the TV in 1971 or 72, it was right around the time we moved to Alsip (Sept 1971). (I've tried to get back into the Hawks since I found out they were on TV again but haven't been able to....maybe someday).

I thought this article gave a good description of how passionate we felt about the Hawks:

"Die-hard fans still stuck with the team, however, and it can be argued that the 1970's-era Blackhawks produced some of the most exciting and passionate hockey memories in team history. The old Chicago Stadium was still filled to capacity every night, and the team regularly displayed the toughness and tenacity that have long been a trademark of this proud franchise. During this time, no one on the team exemplified these traits better than Keith Magnuson.
A classic stay-at-home defenseman, Magnuson joined the Blackhawks in 1969. He would occupy a spot on the blue line for the next 11 seasons, and a place in the hearts of Blackhawks fans for much longer. Magnuson was not known for his skating or scoring ability. Stan Mikita, Bobby Hull, and others were around to fulfill those needs. What Magnuson possessed were the other two most essential elements for a hockey team: leadership and toughness.
Magnuson never hesitated to drop his gloves, and while he lost more fights than he won, his willingness to stand up for his teammates did not go unnoticed by the fans and his peers. He set a new team record for penalty minutes and very rarely lit the lamp, but his teammates and the organization respected him enough to eventually award him the honor of team captain."
http://www.chicagoblackhawks.com/history/MaggieAmongAllTimeGreats.asp

Those were the days.
Moe

We thought this was the greatest tv. Guess what show was on?

Scott: Wow Moe. That was an impressive display of Blackhawk player knowledge.
Does any one know if we still actually have a professional hockey team in town?

Mike:
1:Gerry Desjardins
1a:Gary Smith
2:Bill White
3:Keith Magnuson
4:Doug Jarrett
6:Lou Angotti
7:Pit Martin
8:Jim Pappin
9:Robert Hull
10:Dennis Hull
11:Danny O'Shea
12:Pat Stapleton
14:Bryan Campbell
15:Eric Nesterenko
16:Chico Maki
17:Darryl Maggs
18:Andre Lacroix
20:Cliff Koroll
21:Stan Mikita

Had to throw in a couple of photos of Scotty.....

Because not only was hockey at the top of our list in early 70's, Scotty was too!