Where were you when JFK was assassinated?

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Elsie Snave

Member
Apr 6, 2014
7
37
I just finished reading 11/22/63. Loved the book--took me back in time. I got a chill reading this--I still remember where I was when the news came. I had to do the math and realized I was only 4-1/2 years old at the time. We lived on a small town in the prairies in Canada. It must have been lunch-time; as I was in the kitchen with my mother. I remember the news of the President being shot in Dallas, and the shock on my Mom's face. We were glued to the radio for the rest of the afternoon and, by the time my Dad came home for supper; the grim news had come through that he had was dead. Everyone--even Canadians--were devastated by the news. We thought the world of President Kennedy, his wife Jackie; and their family. I find the part about the roses eerie; this was what my mother always referred to when talking about that day--everywhere they had gone--Mrs. Kennedy had been given a bouquet of yellow roses; but in Dallas, they were red. Excellent account--I was rooting for George all the way!
 

Walter Oobleck

keeps coming back...or going, and going, and going
Mar 6, 2013
11,749
34,805
Was born in '59 so I was...give me a sec...four. But I've no memory of anything related to the assassination. Best I have is a memory of Grandma's, the "old lady"..."up the hill"...and it was evening. I'm being a kid, a 4-yr-old, and I was told BE QUIET! by the grownups in the living room...maybe I'm poking my finger toward the fire behind the grill of the propane space heater and Walter Cronkite was on the news...Channel 6, WLUC-TV, Marquette. Was that the Tet Offensive? Kennedy's assassination? I dunno. Another memory is school, a teacher looking off toward the calendar posted over on the board in the corner...sun shining outside...no snow that I recall...and November there is usually snow. But there's a sense of troubled times...time...period. (Remember those little clocks they gave us? You could set the hands on different times. Quarter till. Half past. Boy, that was rough. Time. Quite the ordeal)

I did visit Arlington with family in 68...Bobby had already been laid to rest...musta only just been laid to rest. The eternal flame. Speeches in concrete. I was fishing Rice Lake when 9/11 happened. Caught a hammer-head pike.
 

Autumn Gust

Well-Known Member
Sep 20, 2012
3,360
15,346
I was five and we were living in Norfolk, Virginia. My dad was working on the car and my mom and I were in the house. Our neighbor, a woman in her fifties, ran across the yard, knocked on our door, and told us the news. My dad dropped his tools and followed her to the house because he knew something must be wrong. Our neighbor was from Texas and, even though I was only five, I remember her words. She was in shock and softly crying and said, "I'm from Texas but we're not like that there, we're not like that there…" Then we turned on our old black and white portable TV to watch the special news coverage.
 

Spideyman

Uber Member
Jul 10, 2006
46,336
195,472
79
Just north of Duma Key
Was at University changing classes. Passed the TV set ( each floor level had one )- saw the breaking news signal. Many students stopped , listened and watched in disbelief. It was a Friday, so remainder of classes where canceled. Had not planned on it being a "go home" weekend, but I did. Stayed glued to the TV that weekend
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
...was just a bit past the "terrible twos" at that particular horrific juncture...I can remember sitting in the elementary school gym a few years later, watching film-strip news footage...even at that young age, I knew a sense of loss, without truly understanding it till later...
 

Moderator

Ms. Mod
Administrator
Jul 10, 2006
52,243
157,324
Maine
7th grade. First our homeroom teacher gave us the news although at that point, it was only known he'd been shot. Not long after a school assembly was called where we were told he had been killed. Everyone was in shock although at that age we didn't fully comprehend all the nuances of what it meant for the country. The next 4 days was probably our first exposure to today's 24 hour news cycle as that was all that was on TV as everyone was glued to the set watching live and having the second shock and disbelief when Oswald was murdered while watching in real time.
 

DiO'Bolic

Not completely obtuse
Nov 14, 2013
22,864
129,998
Poconos, PA
I was six and in school, and remember the nuns crying during class. That’s about all I can recall from that day. I do remember the catholic school gave us the day off for the funeral, with strict instructions that we had to watch it on TV. And my mother made sure I did. I do recall wondering over and over that day when the black and white event on TV would end so I could go out and play with my friends. I wasn’t much into politics back then.
 

RichardX

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2006
1,737
4,434
I was in Dallas last summer and visited some of the assassination sights. Dealey Plaza is surreal in that it continues to look almost exactly like it did on that day. I also visited the Ruth Paine home in Irving, Texas where Oswald spent the night of Nov. 21. He visited with his family and retrieved his rifle. He was playing with his kids that evening under an oak tree that still stands in the front yard. The morning of 11.22.63 he made the short walk down the street where he placed a long package in the back seat of Buell Frazier's car - a teenage kid who gave Oswald a ride to the Texas School Book Depository because Oswald didn't know how to drive. A whole lot of bad stuff in this country began with that simple walk. In addition to the obvious political and historical implications of the assassination, it seemed to open up a new age of random violence. Oswald's act set loose the age of disgruntled individuals taking their anger out on society that has lasted until today. Hard to believe but prior to that morning almost no one contemplated a threat to the President riding around in an open car on a preannounced route. Today the President is rarely, if ever, allowed into a public setting. A truly different age all started by a 24-year old named Oswald.