The blizzard of 1978 dumped over 12 inches of snow on the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes region of the United States. The winds were brutal, and residents of the affected areas were advised to stay indoors.

Shirley Rodgers was one of the few who braved the elements. She had just started a new job and needed to go to work – so she grabbed her two young kids and headed to the bus stop.

She told WJW: "I have never in my life seen that much snow, and also I don't remember the wind ever blowing that hard in my life."

They weren't alone, though. She saw a man in his car, and he was honking his horn at them. Shirley's first instinct thought that he was trying to kidnap them, and she told her children to run.

She added: "I said, ‘Kenny and Kevin, run! Run!' So they started running, and I ran with them. And we had on so many layers of clothes that we fell into the snowdrifts."

The man's name was Barry Rodgers, and he managed to convince the mother to get into his car with her kids to escape the storm.

"He convinced us to get in the car; he dropped my kids off at the babysitter's, took me to work, and then, that night, I had no idea how I was gonna get home. And he was sitting out in the parking lot, waiting for me," she said.

Three years later, that fateful encounter resulted in a wedding.

WATCH the interview to get the full story from Rodgers – and be sure to SHARE the sweet story with your friends…