When snow fell on San Jose, CA, in 1976, it was the first time fifteen-year-old Jeff Shamus had ever seen the white stuff. To commemorate, he made a snowball, and his mother saved it for him in the freezer.
Snowfall was so rare in the area, his mother kept the snowball in the freezer for more than forty years before passing in 2017.
The snowball has now been returned to Shamus, where it takes pride of place in his freezer in Nevada. To survive the long hot journey, he carefully packed the snowball in dry ice.
“I keep it in the freezer next to all my frozen food. When I made the snowball, I had never seen snow before. It was originally in a dixie cup in the freezer, but then my mom transferred it into an empty jar of Skippy peanut butter. That’s where it is now.”
– Jeff Shamus
Shamus, now 59, plans to hand down the snowball, now 45, to his children and hopes the unique heirloom can stay in his family for generations to come.
