This is a combo picture of my wife, Jeanette, who was pregnant at the time with our daughter. Next is me, Charlie with our son Chris. playing in a wading pool in our back year at the house we were renting in Mechanicsburg in 1979.
The movie “China Syndrome” had just come out and everyone was seeing it.
I was going to school at HACC and had an American History test at 8 AM the morning of TMI but of course no one knew. My wife was pregnant and needed the car to go to her doctor’s appointment. So she dropped me off at HACC and she left. I went to my test and the Professor handed out the test and left the room. I was taking the test with everyone else in the course when the Professor came in and excitedly said we were all going to die because TMI was melting down.
the Professor came in and excitedly said we were all going to die
We all looked up and several people said “Test over, we’re getting out of here!”
The Professor asked that we wait and he would check to see what was going on. Of course we just wanted to leave and were thinking and talking about China Syndrome. After several minutes the Professor came back into the class and said it was not as bad as he had first announced and we had to complete the test.
We argued that after his initial statement we were not in the mood for taking a History test. He conceded that he over stated the problem with TMI but we still had to complete the test or receive a failing grade. But he would factor into our test results that he had caused us anxiety. We hurriedly finished the test and left.
This being before cell phones, I went to the Student Union and called my wife to pick me up. Because she was pregnant the doctor would not let her cross the river to get me. Fortunately one of the guys I was taking classes with offered to drive me home to Mechanicsburg. Friends and family were calling us all day thinking that Harrisburg was a hole in the ground.
I got a “C” on the History Test.
Charles