I was a college student at GETTYSBURG College in March of ‘79. We actually were on spring break and learned about the incident while visiting a friend in Connecticut. We all knew where Harrisburg was but not that a Nuclear Power plant was so close.
Not sure how school notified us, long before email, but was told the school would be closed for a week after the incident because residents of Middletown might be evacuated and live in dorms at the college. Never happened.
At the time, my girlfriend, now my wife, was driving back from Florida with some friends. They heard the story on the radio while driving.
Jump ahead to summer of ‘93 I was working as reporter for WSBA and was part of the media that had a guided tour with GPU officials of the facility. Was kind of surreal to walk into the buildings and be so close to the worst Nuclear Power accident, at the time, in history.
Interesting was we approach the 40th Anniversary the plant might be shut down soon.
Jeffrey