This was one of the most memorable events from my early childhood. We lived a couple hundred kilometers east of the volcano, in the area where much of the ash plume landed. It was a Sunday morning in our tiny farming town and people were unaware the volcano erupted, it was people leaving church that first noticed that a pitch black curtain was being pulled over the sky from the west. It was unreal looking. When it passed over us, it was blacker than the blackest nights outside, you could not see your hand in front of your face. And then it started "snowing"...

It interfered with RF transmission where we lived, so the initial news that it was a volcanic eruption was learned via landline telephones to people outside the area. It looked pretty damn apocalyptic when it happened, particularly since radio and television stopped working.

A really unique experience. You still see remnants of the ash piles in that part of the Washington, 40 years later.