tion for Reg’s plow to appear in the distance. This adventure was a
normal part of country living.
Sterling Lord’s diary tells about the big storms on March 24 and 26
in 1967:
March 23, 1967.'fine, a lovely day, a bit warmer.
March 24, 196 7: Colder, snowed all day. Cleaned up cellar. Cleaned snow out of driveways in evening.
March 25, 1967: 30 degrees in morning Driveways filled in last night, cleaned out this morning had some service calls, road very poor, a terri- ble lot of snow for time of year, no thaw as yet.
March 26, 1967: 30 degrees, drifting snow, snow warnings still in efiect. Sun shining right now, home all day. Got up to 36 degrees in afternoon, took 6 hours to open road from toum to Tryon, 3 hours to Albany Y. Wes Robblee and Gordon Carr found dead in car. Car was covered with snow at Gambles’ Corner.
March 27, I 96 7: thawed quite a bit, road very narrow, very hard to meet, some roads not open, banks very high, most all lanes (driveways) full of snow.
March 28, 1967: partly overcast, 26 degrees in morning up to 40 in after- noon. Road very narrow, went to town in morning read some meters in afternoon, water started running.
March 29, I 96 7: overcast, 30 degrees, reading meters to Riverdale. Wes Rob- blee buried this afternoon. Home sick in bed all afternoon, some flu.
March 30, 1967: Light snow, read some meters, got a stick shift on truck, not feeling good. Gordon Carr buried today, very large funeral.
March 31, 1967: 14 degrees, sunny, cold all day, finished Book 340, went to town.
The weather remained moderate until:
April 11, 196 7: 22 degrees in morning; snowing and blowing snow about 7 inches wet snow fell last night, power was ofifi wires pretty well loaded, roads blocked with snow. Trans Canada open but a lot of cars stuck at Albany Y. Got most of lights going by dark.
April 12, 1 96 7: no roads open, only Trans Canada.
April 13, 1 96 7: sunny, went to town, reading meters, have head cold.
April 18, 1967: read some meters, clay roads almost impassable, snow going very slow.
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April 28, 1 96 7: first real nice day this Apr: With the exception of a leave of absence in 1938 and 1939 to work
for Hooper Construction Company during the building of the Western Road from Alma to Tignish, Reg Thomas worked for the provincial government for 38 years. He enjoyed his work, and everyone knew they
could rely on him to do everything possible to get them to their destination. Reg had to retire in 1973 due to ill health, and another era
ended. Road maintenance and snow removal is now contracted out to private firms or provided anonymously from the government garages in Summerside or Charlottetown.
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