Thursday, July 16, 2026
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Spring can’t come soon enough for this household

Greenville resident helps clear stairs of a multi-resident rental home on West Water St. (Clinton Randall photo)

I’m looking forward to Groundhog Day to see how much more of this weather stuff we have to contend with.

This most recent storm hit around the same time as the blizzard of 1978, give or take a few days. It somewhat reminded me of the blizzard, only this time I was living in an apartment, instead of a mobile home, and this time I had my son, Jamie, with me the whole time.

I recall that Thursday night of the blizzard fairly well. I didn’t hear about any storm heading our way until I went to pick up Jamie at my sister Bev’s house after work. I was telling Bev, the babysitter, at the time, about going to the laundromat, and she suggested I leave Jamie there overnight So I did that.

I headed for the laundromat, got it finished, came home and unloaded it when I saw some precipitation hitting the neighboring garage door. I didn’t think anything of it.

In hindsight, I am glad I left him at Bev’s, but I didn’t know I would see him again until three days later.

So, I am settled in at home and I hear a knock on my door. It was a friend of mine who apparently got into an argument with her boyfriend/husband. She was welcome to stay and she did until we could get out of the snow-covered driveway.

The weather happenings outside were scary when the windows would rattle from whatever was happening. I am thinking we may have lost some power at least once but I don’t remember how long it was off.

Those were long days back then, just like this recent storm has been. I missed my son but knew he was in good hands where he was as I’m thinking they had wood-burning stoves.

Even though he was only three at the time, he remembered some of it vaguely but he said he’s glad that we were together this time. And, so am I.

Jamie was looking forward to an event on Saturday night in Greenville and, after he learned that it got cancelled too, he was okay with missing it. Whew!

I was hoping and praying this storm would go over us but to no avail. But, so far, we’re surviving. I’ve been checking out Facebook and have seen where some others are having issues with this storm, such as frozen water pipes, broken water lines and some fires. Knock on wood, it doesn’t happen to us.

For that, I am grateful. And, I want to publicly thank neighbor Steve Hall for bringing his snowblower over for the second time this year and clearing out my driveway. He’s such a good friend.

Here I am, complaining about the weather and there is so much more in life that’s happening and needs our attention and prayers.

A couple of weeks ago, we lost two young people in Darke County who will be forever missed, and yet another family has been affected by sad news.

Then, this past week,

Krista and Tony Spence learned that their son, Trendon, was severely injured on his job in Alabama, and they headed there prior to the start of this recent storm.

Krista has been keeping family, friends and other Facebook readers informed of Trendon’s condition, which has changed several times. That poor guy is in misery. He and his mother were airlifted to a Columbus medical facility the other day so he could get more medical attention to help him in his recovery.

My heart goes out to him and his family, who I hope gets much needed answers real soon.

A lot of prayers are going up for him.

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Jamie and I send our condolences to the family and friends of: Larry Schirack Sr., Les Spohn and David Printz.

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Please pray for Jane Pepple Hammelrath, Evelyn Riffell Sebring, Deb Crist, Trendon Spence, Brian Beam, Brenda Maloy, Jeff Sanders, Carol Good, Mike Mayse, Katherine Obringer, Gladys Neff, Jim Short, Katie Cothran, Margaret Bonifield Middleton, Debbie Isaacs Miller, Melissa Anderson, Rick Beam, Kathy Stone Brewer, Carl Francis, Katrina Hoening, Rick Riffell, Vickie Martin, Jim and Amy Hanes, Tom Everhart, Fred Dakin, Cearol Paul, Ted McCabe, Tracy Pratt, David Hiestand, Gary Knick, Kierra Reichert, Eddie Cline, Sharon Lapp, Terri Baker Buteau, Judy York, Roxie Thornhill, Sharon Miller, Allen Whittaker, Mike Hopkins, Don Rhoades, Dave Brewer, Clarence “Sam” Wilker, Chuck Cruze, Roan Brubaker, Vic Bothast, Tom Brewer, Todd Anderson, Dawn Dilworth, Carol Schuh, Gloria Hodge, Ralph Byrd, Jeff Brocious, Norma Kretschmar, Beth Davis, Terry Overbay, Terry “T.A.” Anthony, Katie Cothran, Lynne Bruner Hinshaw, Donn Thornhill, Carissa Rodriguez, Kevin Christman, Ivan Christian, Roger Fleckenstein, Bob Jackson, Penny Hopkins, Sherry Lawrence, Evelyn Manning, Kevin Schlechty, Darla Printz Whittaker, Sandy Partin, Sandy Gunckle, Tonya Kelly, Bob Christian, Linda Johnston, Terri Hunt, Patricia Maier, Dan Lockhart, Delores Beisner, Jodi Gilpin Snyder, Charlie Bulcher, Charlyee Severance, Justin Fritz, DeWayne Yohey, Kara Didier, Don DeBord, Otis Stewart, Slug Midlam, Bob Peters, Judy Collins, Carol Hemmerich, Roberta Hall, Kelly Kelch, Mike Mayse, Nikole Baldridge, Mark Lovejoy, Connie Stachler, Randy Heck, Ronnie Norton David Pretzman, Clinton Randall, Bruce Kaiser, Amanda Mote, Doug Whittington, Neal Gray, Randy Garrison, Kathy Gragorace, Donna Bixler, Cathy Melling and all others who are suffering from other life-altering illnesses.

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Happy Birthday:

Jan. 27 to Chad Beam, Ethel Lenker, Aaron Teegarden, Roxanne Meadows, Elizabeth Wetzel and Tony Baltes.

Jan. 28 to David Michael Bowers, Pam Weaver, Missy Smith and Debb Summer.

Jan. 29 to Deb Shilt, Deb Fritz-Miller, Shirley Wampler, Mike Gray, Amy Louis and Darla Printz.

Jan. 30 to Dan Reeser.

Jan. 31 to Karen Printz, Ron Hoeksema and Frank Shapiro.

Feb. 1 to Larry Rainey, Michele Dickey Black, Angle Young Noggle, Dave Starline and Jann Coby.

Feb. 2 to John Puckett, Harold Riffell, Kim Rudnick, Robin Blinn, Tim Miller, Vickie Chavez, Evan Leichty, and Linda Spahr.

Happy anniversary to: Ron and Angie Drees on Jan. 31.

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Think about it: “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough ”– Franklin D. Roosevelt