Our TMI experience has a couple different chapters…First, my wife Jeanne was teaching at the Fink Elementary School in the Middletown School district…well within the 10 mile radius (in fact within a 5 mile radius) from TMI.  I was working in downtown Harrisburg, in the Health & Welfare Building supervising an office in the Welfare Department.

On the afternoon of the first day of the “accident” we began hearing rumors of problems at TMI in my office and started listening to the radio news coverage.

there had been no communication about any problems at the school.

When I went home from work that day I held my tennis racquet bag in front of me as I walked in to the house, jokingly shielding me in case Jeanne had become radioactive.  She had no idea what I was talking about.  Despite teaching nearly in the shadow of the towers there had been no communication about any problems at the school.  We of course devoured news reports all evening and both decided to go to work the next morning.

Throughout the school day, beginning around noon, parents would arrive at Jeanne’s school to take their children out of class as they left the area.  At first it seemed almost like a Snow Day as the class got smaller and smaller.  Then those few children who were left began to get very worried.  The teachers did all they could to keep the children occupied while they waited for the end of the school day.

Then…the air raid warning siren went off

In my case I had my hands full convincing staff who had reported to work (about 1/3 stayed home) that all was well and any change to the situation would be communicated immediately to everyone.  Folks calmed down and began working at their own desks instead of congregating around the radio which had become “rumor central”.  Then…the air raid warning siren went off and before I could even move the office had cleared out.  Nothing I could say or do slowed the stampede.  Most folks simply headed for the elevators then detoured to the stairwells and remember, this was pre-cell phone days, so imaginations took over.

Eventually I headed home on empty streets, for once traffic was mostly going the other way.  Jeanne got home early as well and after we discussed all we had learned decided to head North.  My parents lived in Selinsgrove, which was just outside the danger zone circle we had seen on the TV news.  We packed items which were important to us, including our wedding album, check books, some food and a few pictures.  Not logical, I know but a nuclear accident wasn’t logical either.  We filled 6 bowls of water and 6 bowls of food for our cat (who we left behind) and took along dog food for the dog who went with us.

We spent a few days with my parents then decided to return and risk it with all those other folks who remained.  I bought dosimeters for each of us which we dutifully wore for a couple months, sending them in as instructed for analysis.  Jeanne’s showed a bit more radiation than mine, but then she worked closer to TMI than I.

Three initials which encapsulate a life-changing event for thousands.

A month or so later, like many other folks in Central PA we went to see the newly released movie, “The China Syndrome” which of course was filmed well before TMI.  Along with everyone else we gasped loudly when we heard the line– if there had been a meltdown it would have made an area roughly the size of Pennsylvania uninhabitable for over 100 years–(not an exact quote but you get the gist).  The line referred to a completely different nuclear plant but it sure hit home with those of us who had lived through what will forever be referred to in Central Pa simply as “TMI”.  Three initials which encapsulate a life-changing event for thousands.

Jay