It’s that anniversary again. Where were you? Were you born yet? Were your parents born yet?
I was a sophomore in geometry class at Madonna High School (not there any more) in Niagara Falls, New York. I’m not there any more either.
In today’s world, horror and atrocities are commonplace. Even school shootings don’t make the front page any more. Hell, there is no front page. It is impossible to explain the impact of that event on the USA and on the world. In physical magnitude, it was less than 9/11, as it was the killing of only one man by another man. But in impact on the world, it was much larger than 9/11 IMHO–it was the death of the world we lived in. I’m not going to try to defend that statement. If you know, you know.
I was 4 years old and in Montessori preschool. I have no memory of hearing of the assassination. I was aware of JFK while he was in office and the fact that he had a kid named John-John. But from the day of the assassination itself I have no memory. What I do remember is watching the funeral that Monday on TV with my mom; school was called off that day. Watching the funeral is how my mom broke the news to me gently, I think.
To commemorate the day, listen to “Murder Most Foul” by Bob Dylan. “‘Twas a dark day in Dallas, November ‘63”
You grew up in Niagara Falls? That’s some brutal winters there. I knew you were tough, @ThelmaLou , but I didn’t know how tough! I grew up near Albany and Troy, so yeah I think I’m tough but I know I’m not as tough as you.
I was 2 when this happened. My family had just moved from the Philippines and we were in San Francisco. I don’t remember a thing, but I do remember my mom crying at the kitchen sink when Bobby was shot.
The 60s. What a decade. I’m glad those years are in our rearview mirror.
I should have been in the last year of elementary school, but due to having skipped a grade, I was in my first year of high school at the time. I remember the teacher telling the class about the assassination (even though I’m in Canada, this was still a big deal). But as a kid I didn’t realize quite how big a deal it was. I rushed home as usual expecting to enjoy my usual afternoon cartoons, and there were no cartoons to be had anywhere. Just wall-to-wall coverage of everything about the assassination. I also remember watching the live coverage of Oswald being taken somewhere and Jack Ruby appearing out of nowhere and shooting him.
If I could have my way, I want to go like Aldous Huxley went. Injected a large dose of pharmaceutically pure LSD an hour or two before death. I mean, at that point, what have you got to lose? Go for broke.
I was 16 and sitting in my algebra II class when it came on over the PA system. The girls all started crying. The guy next to me turned to me and said “I always liked Eisenhower more.” It’s etched in my brain as the first time I heard someone say something totally inappropriate for the moment.
I was 10 years old, in fifth grade at our two-room country school. We had just come in from lunch when our teacher informed us what had happened. He was aware of it because his wife had called him, otherwise we probably wouldn’t have known until we got home after school.
11/22/1963 was my Dad’s 43rd birthday. We always remembered the assassination on each of his subsequent birthdays.
Military brat. Didn’t grow up in any one place. In Niagara Falls 8-9-10th grades. And yeah, really cold. Lots of chemical pollution in the air back then, too.
When my dad told me we were moving to Texas, I was quite alarmed. I assumed the place was full of barbarians.
I was in sixth grade at the time in California. After the morning recess, we would line up for physical education. One kid remarked that Kennedy had been shot. Another said that Johnson must be happy. Eleven year old boys are masters of the inappropriate remark.
Instead of PE, they took us into the classroom where a radio was set up tuned to the coverage. After a few minutes, they sent us home for the day.
I was in second grade. In the middle of class our teacher, Mrs. Strum, was called out in the hallway where she was told of the assassination. I was sharing a double desk with Kimberly on the side of the classroom opposite the doorway. Kimberly must have had phenomenal hearing, as she immediately said “President Kennedy!” Mrs. Strum came back in the room and I can still hear her voice saying “President Kennedy was in Texas today…. and someone…. with no heart…. shot him.” We were sent home early that day as soon as they could get the bus drivers to alter their schedule.
On Sunday I was laying on the floor watching television and I just happened to be looking up at the screen at the moment Oswald got shot. I remember the announcer asking over and over again if he had been shot,
The funeral was Monday and we all had the day off of school. I don’t remember JFK Jr. saluting but I do remember the cadance of the drums as the procession marched on.
I was 10 years old and about to play cricket at the ground near my home. I guess it would have been about 8 AM. I overheard some adults talking about having heard the news on the radio. I immediately ran home to tell my parents. I have no idea why, at that time, I was so shocked and horrified at the idea of the assassination but I certainly was.
Some years ago I was reading a newspaper article in which people recounted their memories of hearing about the event. One prominent Australian politician told a story of being informed, with all his schoolmates, while in the schoolyard. Strangely no-one picked up on the fact that it was Saturday morning in Australia when Kennedy was shot I can just imagine how he would be pilloried today for that account.
I was not born yet, so I never knew that world before. However, I’ve lived in DFW pretty much my whole life, currently live about 6 miles from the location, and drive through that intersection pretty regularly. The folks sightseeing there have slowly thinned out over the years.
I also regularly visit the Texas Theatre, where Oswald was arrested. It’s a pretty great art house theater these days, and a great place to see a movie.
I was in the second year of an instructorship at Columbia and was sitting in on a seminar given by eminent mathematician (and chairman) Sammy Eilenberg and no one was willing to interrupt it. When it ended at 2, people were waiting in the hall to tell us the news. I had a date that night with a girl who was teaching HS in Greenwich, CT and I drove out there. We spent the next three nights consoling eacn other and hugging. We really bonded that weekend. Four months later we were married–and still are.
I was in 7th grade math class with Miss Barton when the announcement came over the intercom. We were excused. I was a newspaper boy and remember delivering the evening paper with the largest headline I had ever seen. It said “JFK DEAD” in type large enough to span the page.
I was ten years old. I had been sent from my classroom with a list of needed things to be retrieved from the school library. I heard the news while walking past the principal’s office, and was then sent to the rest of the classrooms to inform the rest of the teachers
I was a freshman in a large high school in Portland, Oregon. We came back from lunch (I think I had the early lunch that year) and some of the teachers were all out in the hallway murmuring quietly to each other before class started. I think that’s when they told us the news.
I don’t think I was that concerned with anything except how it might affect me. The thing was, it was a Friday, and we had a big football game (state quarter-finals) that night, way down in Roseburg, and the bus was leaving early in the afternoon for the evening game. For a while, we were afraid the game would be called, but they decided to go ahead with it. There was some stupid joking on the bus, but it was a long ride, around 4 hours I think. Before the game, there was a moment of silence, and that was all. We won, by the way.
I remember the rest of that weekend a lot better, especially Sunday when Jack Ruby shot Oswald. That’s when I thought things were getting really weird, and I remember my father saying to us kids “Remember this, you’re living through history.” We’d already lived through the Cuban missile crisis, I felt like I had enough history under my belt already.
