Bear Lakers Remembered

Here in Cache Valley, we've got winter. Over the mountain in the Bear Lake Valley they have had a Bear Laker these past couple of days. Well do I remember those winter storms which occasionally come to that part of southeastern Idaho. I remember being snowed in at home so that we couldn't get out for days. I remember one time when we were actually snowed in at school and couldn't get home for a few days. Fortunately our grandparents lived in Paris so we got to stay with them. Other, less fortunate students, just made do at the school until the storm passed. On one occasion we were at school and a winter storm began during the school day. The decision was made to send the buses home early in an attempt to get the students to their homes and avoid being snowed in at school. In my minds eye, I can still see my older brother Ellis and Ordell Passey, walking in the raging blizzard a few feet in front of the school bus. The driver could see them a few feet away,but the visibility was not more than just a very short distance, Eventually we made it home. When I was growing up nearly everyone made their living from small dairy operations, They would milk their cows and put the milk cans on the side of the road to be picked up by the milk truck driver who would make the rounds each day and deliver the milk to the Creamery in Paris. On days when the truck couldn't make the rounds, the farmers stored the milk in cans until there were no more cans left. Then began the painful task of milking the cows and pouring the milk out because there was no place to put it. Literally they were pouring their family's livelihood into the snow. I remember on one occasion Dad spent the entire day going around Lanark with neighbor, Dave Parker, with a team of horses and a flatbed sleigh picking up the neighbors milk cans and delivering them to the Creamery in Paris. Well do I remember him as he entered our home at the end of the long day plastered in the driven snow and looking very much like the Abominable Snowman of legend. We all did our best and looked out for one another. That's the way Bear Lakers are. Things have changed over the years, but one thing has stayed the same. Bear Lakers may be Bear Lakers, but Bear Lakers are still Bear Lakers and they care for each other and have one another's backs. Thanks to all who serve so selflessly to get everyone through these weather events and give us cause to be proud to be Bear Lakers, no matter where they may now live. The photo is of the Montpelier Fire and Rescue volunteers out doing their selfless service helping others weather the most recent Bear Laker.