Joyce Hines moved to the Chicago area in 1979, right in time for the last blizzard that shut down Northwestern – until now.
Hines, 53, is originally from Little Rock, Ark. She said the January storm in 1979, which dumped about 19 inches of snow on the region within two days, was completely novel for her.
“It was kind of a culture shock,” Hines said. “It was really like Dorothy from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ coming to a new land. But it was beautiful to see.”
Between that storm and this one, Hines said she has had plenty of opportunities to get used to big snowfalls. She said one of the most memorable blizzards was in 1999, when she watched Lake Shore Drive become “a parking lot” under 22 inches of snow.
That storm presented Hines with the additional challenge of transporting her daughter, Tanya, who has special needs.
“The snow was so heavy,” Hines said. “At that point I had a daughter who was in a wheelchair, and it became more of a drag because just to push her even next door would be a hassle.”
Hines said the family moved from Chicago to Evanston about a year ago. She takes her daughter with her when she leaves their Chicago Avenue apartment. To propel the wheelchair through the snow, “you really have to have muscle,” Hines said. The two ventured south on Chicago Avenue by car in the late afternoon Wednesday and had trouble getting through the parking lot at Walgreens, 635 Chicago Ave.
This challenge snow poses to their mobility is “kind of scary in some ways,” she said.
“I’m thinking if (my daughter) got sick or needed something from the store, it’ll be more of a problem,” Hines said. “I’m going to wonder on a really bad day, in a blizzard, ‘Will emergency vehicles be able to get through? Will I be able to drive?’ There’s a little bit more fear.”
