I am on a small rural road named South Schodack Rd in the upstate community of Schodack NY. I am standing near the railroad tracks. In my hand is a small piece of what appears to be an old piece of car chrome, I have dug it up about one quarter of a mile from this small dirt side road. It is heavier than a modern chrome is and appears slightly melted. So why is this of any importance? So as I stand there my mind goes back to a memory I have stored away. In a sense I go back in time to circa winter of 1958. Most likely January / February. A woman by the name of Loretta Harris who was a member of The Eastern Star was coming home from a meeting of said group. On the way back from The Main St area of Castleton NY where the Lodge was she dropped off Ruth Hudson a fellow member and sister in law to her home. They talked about how it had recently started snowing and rather hard at that. Was she going to be OK returning home. She had a relatively new car a 57 Chevy Bel Air a car that was destined to become a car collectors classic. So she felt reasonably safe. She drove slowly on into the night. She passed by the then new Maple Hill High School and turned onto South Schodack Rd. This road was not a very populated road Even now after some development in this century it is sparsely populated still. Lots of corn and soy farmland now , a couple of dairy farms and corn fields then , she and her husband Donald owned a several acre apple orchard on that road at that time.
Ms. Harris drove slowly that night as the snow had picked in intensity. As she came up to that dirt road that veered off South Schodack Rd didn't realize she had come to the point where the road was a right curve and she went off onto the gravel and dirt side road that emptied into corn field as it does to this day. Only she got stuck on the railroad tracks. Try as she might for the next 7 or 8 minutes she was stuck.Then she heard the train whistle. looked to her North and thought through the heavy snow she might be seeing a dim light in the distance. PANIC. She tried quickly to back up. Tires spun , smoke arose. The whistle was much louder . She grabbed her purse got the door open and got out of the car. Stumbled down towards a large in a panic A few moment later there was one hell of a bang and crumple of sheet metal and chrome glass and rubber. Heavily applied air breaks wailed out in to the dark snowy night. The car was pushed down the tracks dumping off pieces of the car body as it went. From what witnesses said it was a good half a mile or more before it stopped. The car was burning and totaled of course.
Loretta Harris was found sitting against a tree by the neighbor nearby. She had been crying and was in a state of shock. She was wearing a long evening gown dress as is often Eastern Star protocol.It was dirty and torn and the farmer threw his coat over her , His wife called the State Police and her husband.
It was a long night of firetrucks , state police cars and wrecker trucks. The next morning Doctor Austin our local MD stopped by the house checked her over and it is said administered her a sedative to allow some sleep. That next evening several family members gathered with her to be of support. By the way a couple of days later her husband hit the ceiling as we used to say. Her son David tended to side with his father.
Back in the present the road looks the same , the neighbors house sits abandoned nearby and the piece of possible semi melted Chevy chrome is my possession. It was a peaceful warm late summer day. Not like that night more than 60 yrs ago
Ms. Harris drove slowly that night as the snow had picked in intensity. As she came up to that dirt road that veered off South Schodack Rd didn't realize she had come to the point where the road was a right curve and she went off onto the gravel and dirt side road that emptied into corn field as it does to this day. Only she got stuck on the railroad tracks. Try as she might for the next 7 or 8 minutes she was stuck.Then she heard the train whistle. looked to her North and thought through the heavy snow she might be seeing a dim light in the distance. PANIC. She tried quickly to back up. Tires spun , smoke arose. The whistle was much louder . She grabbed her purse got the door open and got out of the car. Stumbled down towards a large in a panic A few moment later there was one hell of a bang and crumple of sheet metal and chrome glass and rubber. Heavily applied air breaks wailed out in to the dark snowy night. The car was pushed down the tracks dumping off pieces of the car body as it went. From what witnesses said it was a good half a mile or more before it stopped. The car was burning and totaled of course.
Loretta Harris was found sitting against a tree by the neighbor nearby. She had been crying and was in a state of shock. She was wearing a long evening gown dress as is often Eastern Star protocol.It was dirty and torn and the farmer threw his coat over her , His wife called the State Police and her husband.
It was a long night of firetrucks , state police cars and wrecker trucks. The next morning Doctor Austin our local MD stopped by the house checked her over and it is said administered her a sedative to allow some sleep. That next evening several family members gathered with her to be of support. By the way a couple of days later her husband hit the ceiling as we used to say. Her son David tended to side with his father.
Back in the present the road looks the same , the neighbors house sits abandoned nearby and the piece of possible semi melted Chevy chrome is my possession. It was a peaceful warm late summer day. Not like that night more than 60 yrs ago
