I grew up on the 3600 block of 2nd street in Harrisburg, we were not actually in the evacuation radius.

I was born in 1973 and we did not have cable, but, we were tv watchers and we watched the news all the time. I remember watching tv news coverage of TMI with diagrams of the bubble and people talking about the solutions and images of the guys in suits.

My mom had given birth to my baby sister in December 1978 and we were going to visit my only first uncle (my mom’s brother) in Laurel, Maryland, just outside of DC. While we were visiting my uncle and cousins, we watched news of the situation and I was so proud to have made the news. I remember my family having conversations about going back to Harrisburg or staying an extra day with my relatives and my relatives agreed to let us stay a day or two longer.

it was like the beach because there were people walking around selling stuff like ice pops from coolers

During our stay, my mom and dad decided to be a part of a “no more nukes” rally in DC. I don’t remember how we got to the rally, but when we got there, there were signs for places you were from and Harrisburg was on a sign, I again was SO PROUD. We followed the Harrisburg signs. We did not get to be very close to the stage, and I don’t even remember where the stage was, but I remember thinking it was like the beach because there were people walking around selling stuff like ice pops from coolers. I remember also that I ended up wearing a little girl t-shirt because it was hot. I remember there was music, and speakers on a stage (I think) but I could not see it.

I remembered hearing my mother talk about the stories of the radiation cloud

About a year later, 2/1980, my next brother was born, right before my grandmother died. While my grandmother, who was about 68, was dying in the hospital I remembered hearing my mother talk about the stories of the radiation cloud that escaped from TMI and how my family believed it had caused my grandmother’s illness to return. I remember hearing the news reports discuss similar theories but discounting the possibility that it caused any illness; as a kid, and even now, I still believe my grandmother’s death was quickened by TMI.

HH

Our family at Italian Lake, less than a month after the TMI incident