News

June 21, 2009

Plymouth couple escape flood but not memories

The Shevocks resided next to the armory, which became an evacuation center.

By Bill O'Boyle boboyle@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
Bill O'Boyle on Facebook   |   @TLBillOboyle on Twitter

PLYMOUTH – Marie and Stanley Shevock were among the Plymouth residents whose home escaped the floodwaters of Agnes in 1972, but they have memories of the aftermath that they will never forget.

The Plymouth couple remembers the commotion next door when the flood hit. They live adjacent to the Plymouth Armory – home of the U.S. Army Reserve Battery C-1-109 Field Artillery – which became an evacuation center for hundreds of displaced families in June 1972.

The Shevocks like to spend warm evenings on their porch with friends and neighbors. In June 1972, they remember hundreds of soldiers and the sound of helicopters landing and taking off. Their quiet neighborhood had become a small town of evacuees and volunteers.

“During the daytime, I remember people walking around and children playing,” Marie Shevock said. “And I remember the look on a lot of the older people’s faces; they looked sad and worried.”

Shevock said night time was a different scene. She said it was eerie.

“We had no lights and all these soldiers were walking around,” she said. “There was a curfew and it was very quiet. People didn’t know what they were going to find when they returned to their homes,” she said. “They were worried that they wouldn’t have a home to return to.”

Shevock recalled an older woman who was staying in the armory. She was sitting in an area that housed an infirmary for people with medical needs.

A nurse asked her if she needed a shot and the woman said that would be great, Shevock recalled.

“So the nurse got a needle and asked the woman to turn over. The woman said, ‘No, I want a shot of whiskey.’ ”

Shevock’s daughter, Barbara, volunteered at the armory, serving meals to the displaced residents.

“She was only 13, but it was a good experience for her,” she said.

Shortly before the waters overflowed the levees, the Shevocks received a call that a relative needed a ride from Breslau to Plymouth. Stanley Shevock and his son, Stanley Jr., picked up the woman and started back to Plymouth via the Breslau Bridge.

“Water was splashing on top of the bridge,” Shevock said. “We were scared that we weren’t going to make it. We were the last car allowed over the bridge.”

Mrs. Shevock said she and a friend walked down West Main Street to see what was happening and the Susquehanna River water was coming toward them.

“It actually pushed us back up the street,” she said. “It pushed us home.”

Tweet	Follow @TLnews