30th Anniversary

Thursday, February 14, 1990, Valentine’s Day, we woke up to no electricity.  An ice storm had materialized overnight, and downed electric lines were widespread throughout the city.

John and I proceeded to get ready for work ….. by candlelight.  Patrick was two-and-a-half years old.  He has fading memories of eating his breakfast with a candle flickering.  The biggest disaster of the morning -- I couldn’t curl my hair!  I was mortified to go to work without curling my hair.  I later thought, I should have at least brought my curling iron with me and tried to “style” my hair in the ladies’ room.

My workday began at 7 a.m., and I arrived at PCU on schedule.  No electricity problems at the college.  As was our custom, John got Patrick ready for the day and took him to daycare.  Shortly before 8:00, John called and said daycare was without power and was closed.  We decided I would work a half-day which would be until 11:00.  Then John would bring Patrick to me, we’d go home and John would go to work at Solo Cup in Urbana.

I had the forethought to call my sister Susan who lived in Urbana to see what her power situation was like.  All was o.k. with power at her house, so I invited Patrick and me over.  Susan’s townhouse was not far from where John worked.  Apparently east Urbana was not affected by the blackout. 

Susan had to go in around 1:00-2:00 at the bank where she worked.  Normally she would take the bus, but I offered to drive her.  Turned out to be a good idea because the bank, near Lincoln Square mall, was without electricity and closed.  No one had bothered to call and tell her.

example of a newspaper
coupon

I no longer recall what transpired after that, except we decided to have Monical’s pizza for supper.  There was a store a short distance from the Ferg’s domicile so John walked over and carried out a pizza (maybe two since we were feeding 4 adults, but I don’t remember).  At that time the newspapers constantly had coupons for Monical’s 16-inch pizzas for $6.50.  I do not recall the price of Monical’s pizza 30 years ago, but $6.50 was a really good deal.  I think a heck of a lot of people who did not have electricity were carrying-out pizzas.  John said it was doing a booming business.

I guess Jim’s place of work was probably using backup power.  He worked in a computer department at the U of I, and a backup source of power would have been crucial.  Later that evening Jim’s parents came over to stay the night because their place in Champaign was dark, too.  They’d been killing time at Market Place mall.

At some point I must have made a trip home to get essentials for an overnight and preparations to go to work the next morning.  Although John probably went home to see if the electricity had been restored.  Maybe he brought our supplies back.  It seems more likely that I would have gathered up what we three needed.  I do not recall, but I did end up with the all-important ELECTRIC hair rollers.

EB for Easter Bunny

Bedtime: John and I got the spare room with a double bed.  Patrick had a pallet on the floor.  He had EB with him, too.  Mr. and Mrs. Ferg got the master bedroom.  Susan and Jim slept downstairs in the living room, Susan on the couch and Jim on the floor.

Following morning:  I prepared myself for work, i.e., curled my hair.  But then I heard on the news that PCU was closed.  They had not lost power, but so many faculty/staff/students were dealing with the ramifications of being without electricity that they just called the day off.

John went to work.  I took Patrick to daycare which had its power restored.  I then went home and hung out in a cold, cold house.  Temp in the 50's (possibly colder?).  I had my 1970’s transistor radio and I listened to all the chatter about people making do without electricity.  I had a thought that I could do laundry or vacuum, but that was quickly squashed.  I did dust.  And I washed dishes which warmed up my hands.  I think I maybe wrote a letter or two.

John picked up Patrick after work, and we bugged out for my parents’ home in GC.  We’d previously asked Jim to stop by our house Saturday morning and see if power had been restored.  Sometime before noon he called and told us it was o.k. to return home.

And that’s the history of our two-days as refugees.