Monday, February 24, 1969
Up about 9:00. Breakfast, worked in Kenyon’s book on Late Bronze period—we were anxious for the mail to come—and what we wanted came: our first slides taken with the new camera—and they are excellent—movie came too. After lunch we decided to go down to Patriquins to see the movie + share our slides. Big snow storm underway; leaving Debby with Kay we went around Rockport taking pictures—even out at the end of Bearskin Neck. Back to Patriquins for a while. I came home to get to work. Didn’t get much accomplished. 6:30–7:30 watched TV while cutting up a piece of pork for Bonnie. Supper over by 8:00. Worked on archaeology. Snow storm proving to be major indeed. During the evening I took 2 photos out front of house—our post-lamp from two different positions. Worked on archaeology until 11:00. Watched weather report; bathed; off to read in bed—read in book of Esther—lights out 12:55.
Tuesday, February 25, 1969
Up at 7:00 to try to find out if the trains were running—not much luck. It had snowed all night—possible another foot of snow on the ground. Decided not to try to go to Boston. Went outside to knock snow off a tree to keep it from breaking—took several pictures. Bonnie joined in the fun. About mid-morning I got to work, reading Isaiah. Stopped to clear off front door area. It snowed all day—is still snowing at 12:30 9:00 AM Wed. Worked on Isaiah during the afternoon, stopped at 6. Watched news, had supper, got back to work on Isaiah. Jim Bussey phone in the afternoon. Newspaper reported Gloucester received 30 inches—and that was 9 hours ago. Trains had not made it to Boston: 10 ft drift at Manchester proved impassable. Worked on Isaiah (with IB) until about 10:00, got up to chpt. 24. Snack; German; bathed; off to read in bed; German; lights out 1:00 AM.
Wednesday, February 26, 1969
Snow, snow, snow! Up about 8:30—still snowing with high wind. Had breakfast, made phone calls to cancel the Official Board meeting for this evening. Called mother to tell her not to come tomorrow—she’ll come late next week. Worked some this morning further in Isaiah. After lunch I went on another picture taking trip—to Post Office and back—but no mail in or out of Rockport since Monday. Came home, built a snowman outside kitchen window. Inside a little after 2:00. Exhausted; took nap til about 4:30. Studied German some. Helped with supper. Alan Frederick came for supper—we spent the evening visiting—showed him our new slides, listened to records. He went home about 10:30.—still snowing + blowing—but worst is over—so we’re told! Bathed by 11:00; watched news; off to bed; θ+; lights out 12:00.
Thursday, February 27, 1969
Don’t know when we got up. Saw Alan Frederick clearing his car of snow, ran over and chatted very briefly—came back, had breakfast, then went out to try to free our car. Worked until about 11:00 when the mail came—first mail since Monday. Read Newsweek while having a cup of coffee. About 12:00 I went back out again. By 1:00 I had freed the car—dug a wide path out to the street. Had lunch, Bonnie went off to Gloucester to shop. Relaxed. About 2:30 I took Debby to Patriquins while I went to Dr. Brown’s office. He looked at the lump on my left arm. Will remove it Monday A.M. for analysis. I could have von Recklinghouse’s disease. I was home by 4:40. Bonnie arrived just ahead of me. I put groceries away, she went to Patriquins. Napped; had supper, watched CBS news; read in bed for a while—we observed Debby get into a sitting position alone. Bathed; off to bed—lights out by 11:00—very exhausted.
Friday, February 28, 1969
Didn’t wake up until 10:00 this morning. Didn’t get much accomplished before the mail man arrived. A roll of film came from mail-away. We had trouble threading it, and I rolled the leader back in the cartridge. Bonnie spent about 45 minutes in the closet getting it out! And we’re not sure if it got exposed. I worked at my desk, we had lunch after 1:00, and I spent the most part of the afternoon working on the sermon. And we took pictures today. Late in the afternoon Barbara + Hazle Lord came over. We showed them our slides + they had supper with us. Also late in the afternoon I walked down at the church to survey the snow situation; conferred with Homer Orne + others: we called church off. In the evening I called Indiana—letter came here today for mother. Made other phone calls, studied; Debby is getting better at crawling. Again today she manage[d] to get into a sitting position; bathed; read in bed; lights out at 12:25.
Saturday, March 1, 1969
Up about 9:00 or 9:30. I phoned several people about calling off church—then had breakfast. Off and on today I tried to read in Isaiah—made some progress. Stopped when the mail man arrived—he had a letter from Bob + Lea—they have agreed to act as Debby’s guardians in the event of our death. After noon I went after bread, went to the church to put the “no church” announcement on the wayside pulpit; lunch; back to Isaiah. About 3:30 or 4:00 we all three went over to Gloucester to Mals—bought a supply of film. Went over to see Busseys, came home about 5:30. Watched news—more snow on the way! Had supper, then I went to call on the Haskells. An elderly relative died—I will do the funeral tomorrow. Home by 9:00. Played with Debby, worked some more in Isaiah; bathed; θ+, watched news + weather; off to bed at 12:00. Got up to read by 12:30; to bed 2:40.
Sunday, March 2, 1969
About 9:30 was up. Had no breakfast, tried to study but was too groggy + sleepy. 10:30 tried to nap—but got up again at 11:00. Desk work—at 11:30 helped with lunch, watched weather forecast to see about the storm. While we ate lunch we watched live broadcast of President + Pope Paul meeting. Phil Parker called briefly to give me a list—names for Wesleyan Fellowship meeting. Shave, got ready to go to funeral home—went about 1:45. Only Mr. + Mrs. Haskell in attendance: the deceased was his mothers cousin: Miss Hayward, age 85. Home by 2:15. Worked at my desk in the afternoon; decided on paper topic—wrote to Father King. Helped with supper. After supper I got to work on the French article for my paper due next week. Bonnie went to visit Hazle and Barbara. I worked all evening. Bonnie home after 10:00. 10:45 stopped the bathe. Caught weather report; off to read in bed. Lights out at about 12:10.
©2017 copyright owned and transcribed by David Madison and Deborah Sweeney
Post originally found: https://genealogylady.net/2017/05/23/davids-diary-february-24-1969/
Genealogy Lady 
“During the evening I took 2 photos out front of house—our post-lamp from two different positions.” I actually remember doing that.
“is still snowing at 12:30 9:00 AM Wed.” I just checked the diary; this should read “is still snowing at 12:30 AM Wed.” Don’t know why I typed in “9:00”. That means I was writing the diary after midnight, obviously.
“He looked at the lump on my left arm. Will remove it Monday A.M. for analysis. I could have von Recklinghouse’s disease.” I well remember that too. It was a benign lipoma. It’s spelled Recklinghausen, by the way. No Google those days! The doctor’s bedside manner left something to be desired. When I asked what the cure was, he just said, “There isn’t any.”
I remember this storm. We moved from Beverly to Holden, Massachusetts just a few weeks before (in another big storm), but this storm left even more snow on top of the previous drifts. I think there was more snow along the coast than inland, because relatives and family back in Beverly were comparing snow totals. I was only six years old, so all the snow piles were over my head!
That’s awesome! Thank you for sharing Heather. I didn’t have time to research any of the contemporary newspapers before posting this.