Snow History: Shoveling the Roof of the Chase Building in Blizzard of '78

This week, Steve Merrow, well-known sound man in the area, recalled some memories on Facebook, asking people from Westborough if they remembered the skating rink roof collapsing during the blizzard of ‘78.

That rink sat next to the Chase Paper Company, and Merrow wondered if any evidence existed of the day the maintenance crew had to climb to the roof to shovel it off before it collapsed, too.

Mike Goulet’s got the evidence and memory of that very incident. It’s in the form of a flyer/photo (pictured) that he saved.

“Buried beneath this 18 foot drift is our Chase building. A crew of 20 men and women shoveled over a 100 tons of drifted show from sections of our 2 acres of roof surface,” reads the flyer.

Goulet, who grew up in Grafton, worked at Chase from 1975-1987. He served on the Grafton Fire Department, and was friendly with all the guys who were up on the roof shoveling. The shovel-fest was captured in a photo used as an in-house business flyer for the Chase company, and it was submitted to thousands of the company’s employees as a promotional tool.

Others pictured in the photo, along with Merrow, include Bob Rousseau and Norm Bowman, who is living at an elderly facility in Westborough.

“He was probably 70 at the time,” said Goulet. “Most of the others were Worcester people who worked at Chase during that time.”

Rousseau said they shovelers were able to save two roofs on the building, but two were lost.

“I remember how close a group that we were,” said Rousseau. “No one slacked off. I was amazed at the amount of snow. 3 The guys that were there had great energy. We worked sun-up to sunset. There was a wide range of ages, from teens to 60. Meals were provided by the company. My brother and I were put up for the week at other employees’ homes in town. Most lived in town. People in the crew volunteered, and we were all given bonuses and thanked individually. It was a great experience.”

So why did Goulet even have this flyer on hand?

“I save everything,” he said. “Just ask my wife!”

Do you remember this happening at the Chase Company? Did you know any of the people on the roof? Do you remember the skating rink roof collapsing? Share your memories in the comments section below.