Share your stories related to the Hurricane with us by commenting on our Facebook page! With your permission we will post them here.
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I found your book, Taken By Storm, 1938, by chance. It was displayed in our small branch library in Carmel Valley, CA and caught my attention because although I was in the midst of that hurricane I have no memories of it. I was only one year old in 1938 but my mother spoke of the disaster many times through the years and I saw her grainy black and white photos of the trees down on the roads near our home in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. My father was working at Dennison's in Framingham and she worried for many hours when he was unable to return as usual that day, due to the blocked roads.
You gave me a fascinating if horrific description of the storm I had long wondered about and I learned a great amount of information about hurricanes as well.
Thank you for your research and writing.
Beverly Johnson Paik
Carmel Valley, CA
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I've always remembered being evacuated by rowboat from Brinley Street in Newport, Rhode Island when I was 2. Until I saw the story about your book I never knew the circumstances. My mother, brother and I were evacuated, and I remember the water was continuous with the bay. My father was left behind, and we were reunited later.
George Calmenson
Santa Rosa, CA
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A favorite piece of family lore - apparently, at the time it was common practice to put babies/toddlers out on the porch for air in their prams/buggies. With so little warning, apparently my dad was blown from the porch, his carriage careening down the streets of downtown Claremont, NH. Thankfully he was rescued by a quick-acting neighbor and we all have laughed about it for years. Curiously, he always had a huge passion for weather - the weather report during the news demanded absolute silence from us kids. I do wonder if there was a correlation between my dad's interest in always being on top of the weather and a clearly traumatic early childhood experience.
Jennifer Pinckney
Director of Graduate Business Programs
Plymouth State University
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At the immediate aftermath of the 1938 hurricane I was sent home from my first grade class, a walk of about two miles. That walk took a bit longer than usual. I had to navigate around and over the trunks of blown down trees that covered sidewalks and streets. I have never found out who had it in for me: my teacher or my parents.
Dr. Robert Mullen
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My mother lived through the hurricane. There was no warning. She was a young woman, working as a secretary in Providence. She drove her convertible toward home, with a co-worker whom she was dropping off. They both held the top to keep it from flying off. She finished the book - she loved it! She said it brought back a lot of memories, plus she liked "reading about the wind."
Judy