Next week marks the 33rd anniversary of the infamous Blizzard of ’78.
For Colleen Kramer there are virtually no fond memories of what was the defining snowstorm in the
lifetimes of all who lived through it.
"My husband, David, was a snowplow driver for ODOT, and he was gone a full week during the Blizzard
of ’78. I didn’t think I’d ever see him again!"
Meanwhile, Colleen "was home alone with two kids in diapers" in an isolated rural dwelling on
Portage Road. "The phone was off" and the word "uneasy" doesn’t begin to capture her
feelings during most of that endless week.
Ever since then, "if I know there’s a big storm coming I clean my house, I get my laundry done, and
I cook! I make sure we have stuff here in case we lose power."
The couple even has a wood stove option at their current home on Long Judson Road.
"We’re big soup and salad eaters. As we get older we just kind of stick to making everything from
scratch. We don’t buy any processed foods."
Kramer likes to mix up a pot of homemade vegetable soup – using vegetables from her own garden. Or maybe
she’ll opt for a pot of her favorite potato soup, based on a recipe from a friend who lives outside
Napoleon. "It’s got carrots, a lotta onions, celery. It uses half-and-half and chicken stock."

And as for the salad?
Since it’s not lettuce season, how about her favorite recipe for broccoli salad?
It’s hearty and filling, including as it does bacon, fruit, seeds and crunchy vegetables.
"It’s tasty, because it’s like a sweet-and-sour thing. You’ve got the extremes of flavor; bacon and
the saltier stuff, like seeds, and on the other hand, the sweetness of the raisins and the sugar in the
dressing."
Kramer picked up the recipe from her friend Norma Roe probably five or six years ago.
"When we moved here, she lived just down the road from us. We moved here in 1984, so we’ve known
each other a long time.
"Then a few years later they bought the old Roe family homestead near Weston" and moved, but
the two women have maintained their friendship.
"I see her and a couple of other friends. We try to get together two, three times a year. We all
have grandkids now (and) all the kids are married, so we have a lot in common."
Two of Kramer’s three children still live close by, but she has one daughter in Oregon. Her five
grandkids range from 2-year-old twins up to age 15.
Kramer’s husband isn’t a big fan of broccoli salad but she loves it, so she looks for other occasions to
make it.
"I take it to family reunions. My husband has a large family and they live in Mercer County and rent
a hall" for the reunion.
She also brings it to potlucks at their church, Plain Congregational.
She likes it for big events like these because the recipe makes a healthy amount. "It fills a medium
size serving bowl.
"And it’s easy, other than the time taken cutting up the broccoli."
So bring on the snow. Kramer, with her ready kitchen skills and amply stocked larder, will be ready.
You’ll be likely to find the couple in what everyone calls "Colleen’s Playhouse."
"In the late 1990s I bought a little cabin and had it moved onto the place. We put a wood stove in
it and we go out there, especially in winter, and play Scrabble or read. It’s my little ‘cabin in the
woods’" and serves as a handy place for at-home vacations.
Because they put a big window in the cabin there are gorgeous views of snow-covered trees.
Clearly, every square foot of their one-acre property is very important to the Kramers.
"We keep talking about cutting back on the size of the garden, but we never do." With two kids
nearby she can always find somebody to eat up their excess produce.
"I do give my jellies as gifts, because we have raspberries. It’s a lot of work, but I have the
time, and it’s satisfying when you learn how to do it."
"My mom was a good cook" says Kramer, who was a Ginter before marriage. "My dad was
sheriff of Wood County in the 1980s. We grew up around Hoytville and North Baltimore," moving to
Bowling Green when she was in fifth grade and dad first got hired by the sheriff’s department.

Cold broccoli salad
Body: 2-3 heads of broccoli (flowerettes only)
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 lb. bacon – fried crisp and crumbled
1/2 cup salted sunflower seeds
1/2 to 3/4 cup raisins
Mix ingredients in large bowl.
DRESSING
1 cup Miracle Whip
2 Tbsp. vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
Whip dressing for 2 minutes. Pour over salad ingredients and stir well. Make the dressing the same day
you serve the salad.
Note: I also cut up about 2-3 inches of broccoli stem with flowerettes so there’s less waste of good
broccoli.