There have been many large snowstorms in Maine over the years. I remember two of them in particular.

In 1945 — I think it was March — I was a senior in high school living on Seavey Landing Road in Scarborough.

We were snowed in for several days. I walked on snowshoes the short distance to Pine Point Road, up the hill, and a little distance to my sister’s house.

There was an area where snow had drifted over Pine Point Road. It was 8 to 10 feet deep and stretched for a distance of about 50 feet along the road. The drift was beyond the abilities of regular plow trucks.

By chance, I was nearby a day or two later when a large truck from what was then the state Highway Department came to deal with it.

The truck was a 10-wheel dump truck with a full load of sand. The plow had a long, low nose that could slide under the snow, and the V was shaped to lift the snow and roll it out to each side.

The driver ran the plow into the drift, and it stopped after 10 feet or so. He backed up, ran into the snow again and gained another 10 feet or so.

After several tries, the plow broke through, and the truck continued toward Pine Point, leaving a one-lane width cleared for traffic. Pine Point Road was open.

It was another two days before another plow truck struggled through the drifts to open Seavey Landing Road. We learned that it would have taken longer before the road was cleared, but the elderly lady in the next house beyond us had died.

In 1952 — I believe it was March also — I was in Orono as an instructor at the university. It was the first time that the university had ever been closed due to weather, and that was because most of the faculty could not get to the campus.

My mother was living in a house that she owned near the intersection of West and Pine streets in Portland. It was on the third day after the storm when the first plow came through.

I did not experience the snowstorms in Maine from 1965 to 1988 because we lived out of state.

I just missed being caught in the great winter hurricane of 1978. My wife and I lived in Northfield, Vt., at that time. We went to the Boat Show in Boston with friends. In the evening, we dined at Anthony’s Pier 4, a restaurant on a ship that was somewhat similar to DiMillo’s in Portland.

The next morning, we drove home to Vermont ahead of the storm, taking our friend’s wife with us. He stayed to attend to business in the Boston area and was trapped in a motel for two or three days.

A ship turned into a function room and cocktail lounge at the restaurant capsized in the storm. That was a major storm for Massachusetts, but it did not affect us.

David W. Knudsen is a resident of Gray.