COMSTOCK PARK, Mich. (WZZM) -- Wednesday marks the anniversary of one of the worst snow storms in Michigan's history.
In the blizzard of 1978, cars were stranded all over the region and traveling was nearly impossible, but that didn't stop a Comstock Park woman and her two brothers. They headed out to help.
Cathy Slaktoski Schaefer said that there was so much snow, it was simply impossible to drive in. When a deputy asked for one of their snowmobiles, she says it was an obvious choice.
"That would have been great for a movie I'll tell you," Schaefer said.
Gallery - 'Humdinger of a time': Blizzard of 1978
If her story were a movie, film critics might say the plot is not believable enough. Schaefer says she was responding to a challenge from none other than WZZM 13 back in 1978, calling for anyone with a snowmobile to help stranded vehicles.
Schaefer and her two brothers had three snowmobiles.
"We all looked at each other and said, 'Hey, why not?'" Schaefer said.
The real twist came as they got to an entrance of U.S. 131, where they saw a Kent County deputy.
"He stopped us and I thought, 'Oh no I'm going to get a ticket, I don't have my drivers license on me and I'm on a four-lane road,'" Schaefer said.
However, she says the deputy didn't ask for a license, but instead for a snowmobile.
A man had fallen into the Grand River, when it was completely covered in snow. The next thing she knew, they were following the officer in snowmobiles on the highway.
"We didn't have to worry about somebody going to run into us or we going to run into some vehicle," Schaefer said. "They were all stuck, but had the clear.
"We followed right behind him trying to keep up through the drifts and what have you and it was a humdinger of a time and boy, I bet we were gone a couple hours."
When they arrived at the scene, she says the officer jumped in.
"He went running across the Grand River, I can't believe it," says Schaefer.
Turns out the man had already been rescued by others in the area, but she came out with quite a story. However, she says doing it once is enough for a lifetime.
Fittingly, Schaefer was an emergency room nurse for 17 years.
The officer went on to become Kent County Deputy of the year, she said. As you might have guessed, Schaefer never got that ticket.