I know we had lots of ash in Portland, too...but not three feet.
But bein' little...I just thought it was neat looking. I was only three and a half, so my memory is pretty limited. ;-)
I was a senior in high school, on a band trip to Victoria, B.C. for a parade when it went off in 80. We got back to the bus after the parade and the driver was listening to CBC news.
CBC said that lava was pouring out and covering most of western washington, and pouring into puget sound, and that "volcanic bombs the size of volkswagens are falling on Seattle". I remember those words like they were yesterday.
None of which was, or course, true. But it had us a little shaken up nonetheless.