Where were you.. 50 years ago?

[catherine]

Many of you were probably not around, but I know there are a few of us who do remember the Kennedy assassination.

I was in 6th grade, and the Mother Superior came in to our classroom and told us to all pray for the President who had been shot. So we all started praying, but it wasn't long before she returned to say he had died. I remember that the "class clown" put her head on the desk and started crying. The rest of us were just stunned.

I remember watching all the coverage in B&W on TV over the next few days.

Interestingly, several years ago I had business in Dallas and I had checked into the hotel. I had never been to Dallas before and in the back of my mind I thought that if I had time, it would be fun to go to Dealey Plaza. But Dallas is HUGE and I had no idea where I was, really. So I walked out of the hotel just to get some fresh air, and turned the corner, and was overcome with this weird sense that I had been there before--it was Dealey Plaza! It was such a strange feeling. I went to the Book Depository museum--it was really well-done.

So I've returned to Dallas several times on business since. About two years ago, I was there, coincidentally it was November 22. So I said to my thirty-something client--"Wow, it's it something that we're here in Dallas and it's November 22?" And hd said, "Why, what happened in Dallas on November 22?"

ETA: Just because I, and my peers, were young, we, like the adults, had a huge sense of loss. I was 11 years old, but still had a sense that it wasn't the death of a man, or the president--it was the death of an era. That is what I felt, personally. We all had that feeling of "Camelot" that is so widely spoken of with regard to the Kennedy era. That was not a nostalgic retrospective term adopted later--that was a term that we recognized back then. We all loved the Kennedy's. I even wrote a letter to Jackie Kennedy telling her how bummed I was that she was no longer the First Lady. She had such class--something that the Johnson's were not able to replicate--and even I knew it.

So, all you people who were above the age of reason in 1963--what are your memories?

[Rogar]

I was in grade school and remember that they let school out for the day. For as long ago as it was, I still have some memories of huddling around the TV as the events unfolded. I think somewhere in the bottom of a memento box I still have a couple of newspapers from the day. I was thinking recently about what rough times those were. Not just the JFK assassination, but Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, the Chicago riots, Oswald, the shootings at Ohio State. The Black Panthers and the SDS and talk of revolution. I'd like to think things are better now, but I don't remember the random acts of violence that we have now.

In one of my few claims to fame, many years ago I had a couple of drinks and a discussion with Bobby Seale. It was a few years after his Panther days and I thought he was a very nice man. I doubt if many from the younger generation would recognize the name.

[pinkytoe]

I was in the fourth grade and the day before we had stood outside our school to wave at the passing presidential motorcade (in San Antonio.) It was a big deal and I even have a photo of all of us standing there looking through the fence. The next day, the principal came over the intercom to let us know what had happened. I recall that his voice was shaky and that it was a concept I couldn't quite grasp at that age. I walked home and found my parents glued to our little tube TV with Walter Cronkite filling in all the details. That is all I remember but I knew the grownups were very upset. In a strange sense, it marked a turning point in my life too as my parents divorced shortly thereafter; it was a time of upheaval for me.

[catherine]

I was in the fourth grade and the day before we had stood outside our school to wave at the passing presidential motorcade (in San Antonio.) It was a big deal and I even have a photo of all of us standing there looking through the fence. The next day, the principal came over the intercom to let us know what had happened. I recall that his voice was shaky and that it was a concept I couldn't quite grasp at that age. I walked home and found my parents glued to our little tube TV with Walter Cronkite filling in all the details. That is all I remember but I knew the grownups were very upset. In a strange sense, it marked a turning point in my life too as my parents divorced shortly thereafter; it was a time of upheaval for me.

Interesting--my parents divorced shortly after as well.

[pinkytoe]

I found the grade school photo and that is me standing to the right of the telephone pole with suspenders on; now that I look at it, we were in front of the fence and not behind:
http://www.ahhs71.com/oldsite/images/1963_1121_jfk_cambridge_elementary_lg.jpg

[catherine]

That is an amazing picture!! And you look so cute!

[Alan]

Oddly enough, I don't have a memory of that day. I was in the 4th grade but don't remember if we were told about it in school and don't recall the evening news coverage. What I do remember is the following Sunday morning when Oswald was shot on live TV. I can picture every detail of the room, the look on Oswald's face as Ruby pointed the gun into his stomach and fired, my dad jumping out of his chair. Very traumatic.

[Gardenarian]

I mainly remember that it was the same day we got our piano. My mom had been longing for one forever.
I was in kindergarten; we got out early that day and when I got home my mom was sitting at her new piano and crying.

[early morning]

I was in second grade. I was scared, because we had made it through the Cuban missile crisis - my school was close to a nuclear lab and it was considered a target, we had bomb drills all the time in '62 - I heard over and over that President Kennedy had saved us from "the bomb". Clearly, to my child brain, if he was dead there was no one to save us. I remember watching the funeral at my grandparents because we didn't have a TV.

[Lainey]

Was in 3rd grade in Catholic school. We were let out of class and the nuns walked us all over to the parish church to pray. I remember one of the nuns crying, which itself was a traumatic sight. Otherwise I was really too young to process the gravity of it.

[goldensmom]

I was in third grade and vividly remember the announcement over the PA and the following silence. There was not much discussion about it at home. Years later I dated a man younger than I. We were looking at magazines at Barnes and Noble when he picked up a reprint of the Life magazine memorial issue of the Kennedy assisination. His remark 'I remember reading about this', my thought, 'I have an orginal issue of that magazine'.

[Lainey]

goldensmom, interesting story. It reminded me that when we were teens, my sister dated a guy in our h.s. who had transferred in from Mississippi. He was our same age but told her that when it was announced on the PA that the president had been shot and killed, he and his Mississippi classmates clapped.
We were horrified, but he swore it was true.

[iris lilies]

I was home. Like Alan, I was in 4th grade. I was sick, as I often was back then as a kid. I remember my mother coming home early from school and she was weepy. I was not emotionally involved in it, the grown-ups were upset.

The Kennedy family always kind of annoyed me, as I think about it, and that may have to do with mother-daughter conflicts and my mothers's worship of them. I couldn't stand Bobby's kids but always thought that Caroline was classy.

[iris lilies]

...In one of my few claims to fame, many years ago I had a couple of drinks and a discussion with Bobby Seale. It was a few years after his Panther days and I thought he was a very nice man. I doubt if many from the younger generation would recognize the name.

I would have like that!

Bernadine Dorn, remember her? Wasn't she a Bobby Seale crony? A few months ago at the national Lily Society annual meeting I sat next to a Univ of Chicago Prof who said he was her boyfriend during those tumultuous years, they lived together back then.

He was a real bore, actually, but I liked his claim to fame.

[goldensmom]

goldensmom, interesting story. It reminded me that when we were teens, my sister dated a guy in our h.s. who had transferred in from Mississippi. He was our same age but told her that when it was announced on the PA that the president had been shot and killed, he and his Mississippi classmates clapped.
We were horrified, but he swore it was true.
Clapping?? How unusual, how disturbing. I cannot even fathom such a reaction. I do remember that in our small town there were Methodists and Catholics and the Catholics seemed more upset than the Methodists.....interesting, things that impress a child.

[Rogar]

I would have like that!

Bernadine Dorn, remember her? Wasn't she a Bobby Seale crony? A few months ago at the national Lily Society annual meeting I sat next to a Univ of Chicago Prof who said he was her boyfriend during those tumultuous years, they lived together back then.

He was a real bore, actually, but I liked his claim to national fame.

The name rang a bell and I had to look her up. She was more associated with the SDS and Weathermen, but seemed to have a hand in the 1968 Chicago riots, among other more grievous misdeeds. I'll bet they knew each other. You might recall from the CSN+Y song..."though your brother's bound and gagged and they've tied him to a chair" (won't you please come to Chicago). That was Bobby Seale who created such an outrage during the trial of the Chicago Seven that he was ordered to be gagged during the trial. Certainly a couple of colorful characters.

[iris lilies]

The name rang a bell and I had to look her up. She was more associated with the SDS and Weathermen, but seemed to have a hand in the 1968 Chicago riots, among other more grievous misdeeds. I'll bet they knew each other. You might recall from the CSN+Y song..."though your brother's bound and gagged and they've tied him to a chair" (won't you please come to Chicago). That was Bobby Seale who created such an outrage during the trial of the Chicago Seven that he was ordered to be gagged during the trial. Certainly a couple of colorful characters.

Oh, I was enthralled with the Chicago 7 back then. Rubin and Hoffman were hot Jewish guys, I loved them!

[Sad Eyed Lady]

I was in grade school and remember that they let school out for the day. For as long ago as it was, I still have some memories of huddling around the TV as the events unfolded. I think somewhere in the bottom of a memento box I still have a couple of newspapers from the day. I was thinking recently about what rough times those were. Not just the JFK assassination, but Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, the Chicago riots, Oswald, the shootings at Ohio State. The Black Panthers and the SDS and talk of revolution. I'd like to think things are better now, but I don't remember the random acts of violence that we have now.


I think I identify with this post most closely. I was in the 7th grade and it was recess time. All the kids had gone outside except for my best friend and me for some reason. We were in the cafeteria and the principal of the school came in where we were and told us what had happened. I think she was just stunned and had to tell the news to someone, even if it was a couple of 7th graders. And yes, as Rogar said, that decade was so full of monstrous events, so many good people killed by assassins and the Vietnam war raging. It really is amazing when you look back on those times and as in a time capsule you see all the things that went on, but also as Rogar said, there wasn't the senseless random violence of today.

[SiouzQ.]

Seeing the funeral on the black & white TV is one of the earliest memories I have ~ I was only a little over 2 years old and I distinctly remember standing on one side of the living room and seeing that the TV was on and the motercade driving slowly and my mom seemed quite upset and somber. That is all though; I obviously had no idea at all what it meant and only possess the visual memory of it.

[Greg44]

1st grade, returning from Lunch in side by side line (probably boys on one side, girls on the other). The line stopped in front of our Principle's (Mr. Rogers)office when he made the announcement. I have no other memory of my reaction at that point. I do remember my normal cartoons were cancelled for the news/funeral and I was really bummed out about that - I was in 1st grade!

I also remember when I heard that Walt Disney had died. I think I was in the 4th grade and my cousin told me in the lunch room at the same school - it was like telling me Santa had died. I told him he was a liar. Walt Disney was a fixture in our home every Sunday night (after Wild Kingdom). I can still see Tinker Bell waving her little wand creating the splashes of color during the opening of the show...ah good memories.

[The Storyteller]

I remember like it was yesterday.

I was on the playground with the rest of the 5th grade at James Monroe elementary when the bell rang early. We went to our classroom and our teacher Mr. Horseman was crying. First time I had seen a grown man cry in public (very different times back then). He told us the president had been shot, and that school was dismissed for the day. It didn't resume until after the funeral, so we could be home with our families during this time of national mourning.

I remember walking down that long dirt road to our little country home after the bus dropped us off. By then, President Kennedy had died. We found our mom crying on the couch in the living room. I remember everyone being glued to the television, remember Jack Ruby shooting Oswald, remember the funeral, remember it all.

[The Storyteller]

I was in third grade and vividly remember the announcement over the PA and the following silence. There was not much discussion about it at home. Years later I dated a man younger than I. We were looking at magazines at Barnes and Noble when he picked up a reprint of the Life magazine memorial issue of the Kennedy assisination. His remark 'I remember reading about this', my thought, 'I have an orginal issue of that magazine'.


You mean this one?

http://www.backyardchickens.com/image/id/12864635/width/900/height/900/flags/LL

From my magazine collection.