I was at home with my mother. Her soap opera was interrupted with the news. I remember her crying. I was 4 years old. I also remember watching the funeral & saw Oswald get shot. I remember being upset because the cartoons weren't on because of the coverage.
I was at school in the 1st grade. I think I remember walking home after we were let out early. But that's it. As a child, I wasn't aware of much that happened outside a 20 foot radius of myself, I'm afraid. I'm a little better informed now, though.
Funny how we remember being let out early from school early. I was in second grade. As soon as we found out, they told the "walkers" to go home and had the buses come and take the rest of us. We went home and watched the footage of the parade route and them announcing the death over and over and over. All weekend. Then we got Monday off to watch the funeral, same thing showed all day. The world really did stand still and it was an end to innocence. Gun violence wasn't what it is today. The fact that someone would shoot the president was unthinkable. Today, it's amazing that our president has been able to be protected from that.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/2013 12:43PM by NormaRae.
Kindergarten. Though I do remember the JFK assassination on TV. My mom and dad were surprisingly upset as I remember them not liking him very much. I thought they would have been more happy with him being bumped off.
The day of the Kennedy funeral my dad made me run to the local playground to interrupt my 14 year old brother's basketball game and bring him home.
Dad wanted my brother to view the procession and to pay his respects to President Kennedy. I think the entire nation was watching the funeral cortege on that day. History in the making, just like the first moonwalk.
My dad was Hispanic, a Catholic, and at that time a Democrat (later became a Republican), so I assume he voted for Kennedy.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/2013 11:52AM by Senoritalamanita.
3rd Grade, they only told 4 - 6 grades so I heard when I was walking home from school. I remember the TV coverage of the funeral. It was on my Dad's birthday so no celebration that year.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/2013 11:42AM by shortbobgirl.
I was in 8th grade social studies class. I was quite upset because I had met President Kennedy while he was campaigning.
It was such a shock because assassinations were not even a thought at that time. The tv coverage was about as intense as the crime. Although my family did not own a tv until shortly before this happened, I did not ever remember the tv stations being commandeered by a news story before.
In 8th grade gym class and it was announced over the intercom. That evening was to be the 8th grade dance and I was to wear my first pair of nylons; the kind that you rolled in a garter halfway up the thigh ,if you didn't have a garter belt. I remember some of the girls upset because the dance was canceled and I thought how in the world could anyone be that stupid and empty. They made me mad so I told them how I felt and they thought I was stupid. Some said things like he got what was coming to him etc. I wanted to punch them out.i cried for a couple of weeks.
I was 4 years old, so not in school yet. We did not have a TV, which was not unusual in those days. We went to our neighbor's house across the street to watch the funeral. I did not understand it.
cludgie Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I was in Mr. McDonald's history class. He was > Canadian, but still wept when he read the news.
I was doing my psych affiliation (senior year). That makes me one of the old people eh?
One day in 1989, I was touring the old neighborhood in Alaska where i was born, with my father. We were on a visit from out of state, hadn't been there in many years. He was pointing out all the houses that he had built. (He and his father were developers at that time). He had a crew of 50 building many houses at the same time, so I imagine he was really busy back then running from house to house solving problems. Then he stops, he points out one house, and he tells me exactly where he was standing and who he was talking to when he learned that JFK was shot.
Grade two, Catholic school in Toronto. Sister Robertine, the principal, came on PA, told us President Kennedy had been shot, and to pray for him. Do not remember walking home but remember getting home and my mom had the tv on with coverage. We watched all weekend.
I was in second period 7th grade English class. Someone from the administration office came into our classroom and whispered the news to our teacher and left to go to other classrooms.
Our teacher sat at his desk for a minute and looked stunned. He started to cry and that scared all of us kids. He composed himself enough to tell us what happened.
In a few minutes, the Principal made the announcement on the P A system.
Everyone was stunned. There is no other word to describe a room full of seventh grade kids that just learned that there was evil in the world and that evil had just entered our innocent lives.
I never saw the world in the way I did prior to Kennedy's death again. It was a game changer for me.
I was in my 5th grade classroom. Everything stopped. We watched the TV in shock and soon were sent home. I watched TV non-stop for the next 4 days. I had become hooked on politics and the news from watching the presidents' news conferences. They were so entertaining and he was always funny. When Oswald was shot, I couldn't believe it. It just seemed so strange that this two bit mobster Jack Ruby would take the risk to go into the police station and kill him right in front of everyone. Still seems awfully fishy to me.
I was in my 9th grade English class. I went home for lunch and told my parents. We turned on the TV just as Cronkite was telling us that the priest who had given him last rights had said he was dead. It wasn't quite official yet, but we were pretty sure he had died.I was devastated.
I was married, living in Wymount Married Student Housing at BYU doing some laundry at their laundry house when I heard the news from someone that came in. I ran home to tell my husband who was studying at his desk in our little apt. We didn't have a TV so I found the radio and turned it on. It seemed unbelievable, a dream. Not real. But it was.
I was in high school, and we came in from gym class and there was a confusing announcement about someone being shot. At first I thought it was someone from our school, then the next announcement that the President had been assasinated. We were sent home, many on my bus were crying. I got home and walked in the door, my mother had the radio on and they were playing Ave Maria, and we both were crying.
After that we had the TV on for all the events of the next few days, Oswald being shot, the heartbreaking funeral, the end of innocence and optimism and childhood. I wrote a poem about how hate killed Kennedy. Being Irish Catholic, him being elected was a huge thing, I had stayed up all night the night of the elections watching the returns and cheering. For it to end as it did was a crushing blow for the whole country, but especially for those of us who were young and hopeful and had those hopes dashed.
I will never forget that day. At the time my parents were really into Lawrence Welk and thought it would be really swell for me to take accordion lessons. We had a recital scheduled for that night and every year at the recital, the instructor had a student play the Star Spangled Banner. I just happened to be on the instruction book the song was in and so he asked me if I wanted to be the one to play it. I said sure (I was nine years old). Well, then Kennedy got shot. My school teacher got up in front of the class and told us. She was crying. They were going to call the recital off, but decided at the last moment to go ahead.
It was rather solemn. My rendition of the Star Spangled Banner was to begin the program. I walked up onto the stage and looked at the crowd. Everyone looked sad. I noticed an American flag at the edge of the stage and decided at the last second...I'll face the flag and play.
That spontaneous decision brought a lot of tears. I thought for a second I was in trouble, but everyone assured me it was an inspired idea, just what everyone needed at that moment.
Ceder City Sitting in college chemistry, the teacher, Mr Fox came in late. He was visibly shaken and announced that Pres. Kennedy had been shot. He dismissed class and I went back to the dorm and listened to the radio with my room mates. It seemed impossible and unreal, I couldn't believe that he would die, I waited for the radio to tell us he was ok.
I was a senior in college. I was walking into a university class when I heard. My first thought was,"Oh no, Johnson is president!" I went to the student union and watched on TV for a while and went home. I was glued to the TV too and saw Oswald shot. That was unbelievably stunning and terrible too. The whole thing was.
I was shopping in the supermarket with my mom when the news started spreading that the President had been shot. When we were driving home, my mom turned on the radio and solemn music was playing. My mom told me that it meant the President had died.
It seems even more shocking to me now that it did as a child. I can't imagine what it must have been like for the first lady that day.