February 2023 - Winters Past and Present

Photo from the Hartford Courant archives

Winters Past

February 1978:

Can it really be 45 years since "Storm Larry", the 1978 blizzard that buried the Northeast?  It began on Monday, February 6; by that afternoon, Hamilton was shutting down and we were all sent home early – not to return until three days later. 

Sitting in the conference room of a bank in Windsor that Monday morning, I watched out the window as the first snowflakes appeared.  I was there to sign the papers to close on my first house in Windsor Locks, but the storm prevented me from moving into that house until Governor Grasso lifted the state of emergency later in the week.  In the meantime, I had already sublet my apartment and placed my furniture in storage, so I spent the duration, sleeping bag and suitcase in tow, with LuAnne Figoni in her apartment down the hall.  

I’m sure you all have your own particular memories of that week.  Here’s a link that may stir up some more: CLICK HERE

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February 2013:

More recently, it was ten years ago this week (February 8, 2013) that the region was hit with Winter Storm Nemo, which dumped over three feet of snow in parts of Connecticut and brought with it wide-spread wind gusts of over 60 mph.  See more about that storm via these links:

• Wikipedia storm summary
• Weather.com
  

I was visiting my father in New Britain when the storm arrived.  By the next afternoon, the snowdrifts in his driveway had almost completely buried my car --- but mercifully left the driver’s door accessible, so that I was able to eventually turn the car around to drive out.

 

 

That's my father posing with the shovel.  95 years old at the time, my nephew and I had to force him to stay inside while we did the digging out!

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Winters Present

Winter can still bring joy to those who are able to embrace the snow.  Case in point was last week, when John and I spent a week skiing at Sunday River in Maine in the congenial company of good friends and family: Jerry and Laura Kimble, Diane Lototski and husband Brian Williams, and John’s brother Jay with wife Andrea. With an average age of around 70, some of the inevitable talk around each day’s breakfast table was about the aches and pains from the previous day’s skiing, but much more of our time was spent laughing and just enjoying the camaraderie.  

Happy Senior Skiers!

 

As to be expected with friends that go back more than 40 years, some of our conversations turned to reminiscences of old days and folks at MSD: the sea of desks and shared phones; punch cards and the first TSO terminals; rubber band balls; summer picnics and other celebrations; over/under 30 softball games; Charlie Straight’s one-liners*.  It’s hard to convey to younger folks how we tolerated the smoke-filled conference rooms, the strict 8 to 4:30 schedule, and even the (ahem) ratings systems the “gentlemen” of the department had for new women hires (!).   

Times have certainly changed......but friendships and memories remain.   

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

* A sampling of Charlie's wit:

“I’d like to help you out; which way did you come in?”

“The system is crashing around us, and you’re worried about double spacing?”

"Aw hell, take a street car!"

January 2023 - Hal

 

Hal was one of the first people that I met at Hamilton.   I was fresh out of college and interviewing for a programmer trainee position at MSD.  A couple of “old guys” – Hal and Gil Anderson (in their 40’s at the time), took me out to lunch as part of the interview.   I’ll never forget the date – August 8, 1974, because I remember listening to the two of them speculate on what President Nixon was going to announce in his press conference that evening (it was in fact that evening that he announced his resignation).   

As of this writing, Hal's obit has yet to be published, but his son Scott wrote to me to say that the service will be held in Walden NY in the early Spring.   In the meantime, some of you have sent in your memories:

"Hal was always considerate and a perfect gentleman.. He was trained and interested in the theater..  He would organize some of the managers to perform in a comical skit at our department parties. He would produce the material and schedule some practice sessions for us. It was a lot of fun"  ~ Norm Lapointe

"Hal was an all round good person. Just as an aside, while my step-daughter was living in Pittsburgh, Nancy and I got together with Hal for lunch in a nearby community. That must have been 10 years ago or more. I only got to know Hal from the monthly alumni get togethers, before we moved south." ~ Hank McWay

"So sad to hear of Hal's passing. I always admired his ability to organize resources and develop offerings for user departments that wanted to own their own computers. He was a trail blazer. Hal developed Info Center standards, published a newsletter, and created HSD user groups. Rest in peace my friend!" ~ Dwight Penfield

"Hal was a rare, one-of-a-kind man.  I'm glad I had the opportunity to work in the same department." ~ Deb Shapiro

  

"Gil, Hal, Judy and I used grab a “diner” lunch once a month.   There were rules.  White ceramic coffee mugs, order written on a little pad, ripped off and clipped to a spinner or wire, etc., for the cook.  There was extra credit for waitresses who memorized the order!   Two really nice guys......

Remember those guys in that skit band during the picnics, “Marvin and Mavis” ?? .....

I recall in Hal’s East Granby home…in the finished basement was an actual cell for prisoners.  He modified it so it was part of his bar… he left the top metal bars in place and built the bar with stools below it."  ~ Jo-Ann Smith

 

I’ll state the obvious here: if it weren’t for Hal (as well as Gil), you wouldn’t be reading this, there never would have been a monthly alumni breakfast or newsletter, and many of us would have lost touch with each other long ago. 

Hal and Gil had what could be a described as a friendly rivalry at times, but they shared the sense of commitment and spirit of camaraderie that strengthened the ties in our department.   With that spirit, they launched the first “News from the Hole” in December of 1992 – thirty years ago, almost to the day.  Not many of the original issues have survived, but a couple of years ago, Hal mailed me the few that he had kept.   Here is Volume I, Issue #2, dated January 1993 (sorry for the blurry-ness; it's the best the scanner would do).:

Thank you, Hal, for making this all possible!

Taken when we stopped to visit him in PA in 2007 on our tour of the northeast. - Larry Quillen

 

 

At the annual MSD alumni luncheon, 2014

Gil and Hal: annual MSD alumni luncheon, 2012