Where Were You When...

There are certain events that are so dramatic, so life-changing, that we will forever remember where we were when they happened.  Ten years ago today, January 28, 1986, one of those events happened for me – the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after lift-off, killing all seven members of the crew.  Among those seven members who lost their lives that day was the first civilian in space, teacher Christa McAuliffe.

We were living in a Dayton, Ohio suburb.  It was right around lunchtime and I was sitting at the table with my two daughters.  My oldest was three years old and the youngest, almost one, was still in her brown wooden high chair.  I watched, over and over (thanks to the magic of television) the horrible image of the shuttle disintegrating in mid-air.   In my memory, it happened yesterday, not a decade ago.

Other events that are “I remember where I was” moments during my lifetime was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.  I was home sick from first grade on Friday, November 22, 1963 and remember calling upstairs to my mom telling her someone shot the President.  She told me to stop making up stories.  Here again, even though I was only five, I remember it like yesterday.

During high school, I was sitting on the couch doing homework on August 8, 1974 when the breaking news came over our TV that President Nixon resigned from office.  He was the first president to leave office, but did so in the face of almost certain impeachment.  I watched as he waved to everyone as he boarded the helicopter and left the nation in the hands of Gerald Ford, who took office that day as the 37^th President of the United States.

Jump ahead almost 20 years…the date was April 19, 1993.  David Koresh and his religious sect, The Branch Davidians, died in the “Massacre at Waco”.  Two years to the day later, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  168 people died, including 19 children and several hundred more were injured.  I was at work when I heard the news.  I worked at a pharmaceutical distributor outside of Dallas, Texas and had been in Oklahoma City the week before.  I passed right by the Federal Building so believe me, I will never forget hearing that news and seeing those images.

Move ahead four years.  I was living in Akron, Ohio and woke up on Sunday morning, August 31, 1997, turned on the news and heard that Princess Diana had been killed in a terrible auto accident the night before in Paris.  She had been the breath of fresh air the world needed, a contemporary Jackie Kennedy.  She was the epitome of grace and culture and made the world a better place just by being a part of it.  

I think most of us remember where we were the morning of September 11, 2001.  I was working in my home office in Canal Fulton, Ohio.  My young son was in his walker having a great time when my mom called and asked if I were watching the news.  I turned the TV on to see the terrible disaster unfolding before me.  I heard about the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the attack on the Pentagon and the plane that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania after its brave passengers managed to overcome its hijackers.  I mourned and cried and wondered how this could happen in a nation that had felt indestructible.  Almost 3,000 people lost their lives that day and our country would never be the same.

Those are some of the major “I remember where I was” events in my lifetime.  If you talk to your parent’s generation, you will probably hear about the bombing of Pearl Harbor and other major milestones.  Of course, there are other, more joyous events that I remember like it was yesterday.  I remember welcoming three beautiful children, two daughters and a son, into this world.  I remember saying “I Do” to the love of my life.  I remember meeting our latest fur-baby and welcoming him into our family.

There are many moments in life that deserve to be remembered like they were yesterday.  Hang on to those memories, good and bad, because they help define who you are.  

A Flood Greater Than Noah's - The 1937 Ohio River Flood, Lawrenceburg, Indiana

It's been 79 years.  It was January, 1937.  The town of Lawrenceburg, Indiana, just west of Cincinnati, received between 6-12 inches of rain within the last week.  Add to that melting snow, and you have the recipe for disaster.

The heavy rains and the melting snow caused the Ohio River Basin, stretching from Pennsylvania to the Mississippi River to reach the highest levels recorded.  The river had peaked at around 65 feet in February, 1832 and 68 feet in the flood of 1883.  The follow year, the river crested at a little over 71 feet, leaving Lawrenceburg buried under more than 6 feet of water.  None of this compared to the disaster that Mother Nature and weak levees would bring in 1937, when the Ohio River crested at 82 feet and 6 inches.  Every home in Lawrenceburg, even those on high ground were submerged under several feet of muddy Ohio River water for over two weeks.

My mother was 16 at the time of the Ohio River Flood.  Her family was split up and sent to private homes outside the ravages of the flood waters to sit out the disaster. She remembers being sent by train with her mother to Indianapolis where they lived in the state fairgrounds until it was safe to come home. Her dad did not even know where they were until he saw a copy of a newspaper with their photo.  They were playing cards at the fairgrounds.  At least he finally knew where they were and that they were safe.  To the day she died, she hated eating rice, because that was about all they had to eat while they were in Indianapolis.

The flood destroyed most of the supply routes into town.  The B&O tracks were mangled like pieces of spaghetti and the main roads were washed out.  Supplies had to be trucked and then ferried to the city.  The Coast Guard was present to help with the rescue attempts, the Red Cross was overwhelmed with requests for aid and the local distilleries were turned into makeshift hospitals and eating/meeting places.  The muddy, unclean water of the Ohio reached the second floor of most lower lying homes and businesses.  Dysentery and water borne diseases were rampant.  There was one – only one – building was able to stay out of the water of the Great Flood—it was a filling station near the boundary of Lawrenceburg and Greendale. 

Finally, the waters receded enough for families to come home and inspect the damage.  Mom’s childhood home was destroyed and all of their belongings were destroyed.  They rebuilt on the same site and that house is still standing.  I grew up next to it. 

How do you put your life back together after everything you knew and loved was

destroyed?  How do you put the fear behind you every time there is a rainstorm or a warm stretch that melts the winter snow?  Tall, strong levees were built around the town to keep the muddy Ohio from repeating its assault.  As the years passed, the memory of the  ’37 Flood has faded and life has reached a new normal.   

Hopefully, that will be the last of the disasters that face the people of this sleepy Hoosier town.