Where were you when President Kennedy was killed?

[Clinton Crusader]

I was in my mother's house, sitting on the floor, watching TV when the screen changed to 'BULLETIN" and stayed that way for a long time. I called to my mom, and told her there was a bulletin, she was on the phone and said "I'll be right there". When Walter Cronkite's voice came on he said, "Three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade today in downtown Dallas . First reports say the President has been seriously wounded by this shooting".

And it spiraled from there. Launching into a continuous non stop news cycle - what we know now as cable news, for four days. I understood, but didn't grasp it all. It was the first time I saw my father cry, remembered I had met President Kennedy on Park Ave., in Manhattan in October, 1963, and thought of Caroline who was close to my age and now her father was dead.

The most eloquent and true words I ever heard of this horrific event were spoken by Adlai Stevenson.

"We will mourn his death until the day of our own"

[evlbstrd]

1. In class at Catholic school.

It's the only time I ever saw nuns cry.

[Not Me]

8. Same here. In the fifth grade.

They led us in a prayer and then sent us home.

[July]

53. Me, too. In very Irish Catholic South Buffalo.

Fourth grade, Sister Anna's class. The principal (also a nun) came into our room, very upset, and told us to pray for JFK. I can even remember where I sat.

[Trajan]

67. I was also in class, in Catholic School .... Lodi NJ ....

2nd Grade at Saint Francis De Sales, watching Jeopardy with the other students (Watching Jeopardy was 'education') ... First we heard a murmur at the back of the classroom while we watched ...

Then they interrupted Jeopardy with the awful news .... We all sat .. stunned .... watching whomever was the newsgroup on the Jeopardy channel (Huntley and Brinkley ?) ....

They stopped class and sent everyone home .... I watched at home as Kennedy was declared dead, and watched nearly straight through for 3 days, fascinated by the whole ordeal even though so young ....

I watched Oswald get shot on live TV ..... Horrifyingly scary for a 7 year old ....

Wow ... This brings back those memories ....

[northofdenali]

107. Me as well, evlbstrd.

Third grade. Daddy picked me up, and had tears running down his face.

[Drum]

2. Twas 2 days before my first birthday...

...so I was probably suckling on my mama, and napping quite a bit....

[leftofthedial]

3. I was in class when it happened

walked a couple of blocks to my Grandmother's house for lunch and saw it on TV. Classes were cancelled the rest of the day.

[Speck Tater]

4. In my Air Force barracks in San Antonio, TX, doing my ironing. (nt)

[OzarkDem]

51. Did the military go on alert status?

I recall a former boss of mine telling me he was in the Army in Germany at the time and they had to prepare to go out to the border of East Germany. He said the military was scared at first, didn't know what the hell was going on or if we were under attack. I recall reading about the fear also on Air Force One in Dallas when Johnson rushed on board. Cold War tensions were pretty high then.

[noonwitch]

5. I was just a gleam in my daddy's eye

I was conceived a couple of months afterwards.

I remember John Lennon's death, and the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan.

[tularetom]

6. In my Hydraulic Engineering lab class in Berzerkely

[CurtEastPoint]

7. In 8th grade, band class, 7th period, 150pm. The intercom...

came on and it was the radio. We were stunned. The bell rang and we went to 8th period. I had Earth Science and we sat and listened to the radio. When they announced that the president was dead, some time after that they played the national anthem, I think. I remember our teacher very gently smiling at us, tears in her eyes, as if to say 'it'll be all right' and simply lifting her arms to gesture us to stand up. It was a moment I will never, ever forget. Our country has not been the same since.

[Clinton Crusader]

13. "It was a moment I will never, ever forget. Our country has not been the same since."

How true.

I was a child, but I remember, and I remember and felt and lived RFK more. Still being only a child, but I was traumatized by RFK; couldn't sleep, was scared, my mother comforting me all the time. Can't really explain it, as I WAS only a child...

[CurtEastPoint]

50. An added memory...

That was the time when the radio and TV started staying on very, very late, or not even signing off, to cover the news. That was the beginning of the 'all night' expectations we have now. I remember that grocery stores (and this is in Charlotte, mind you, not in the sticks) closed at 6pm during the week, except Thursday nights till 9. They were not open on Sundays, even though this was not by law.

I also remember that Sunday morning, watching Lee Harvey Oswald being transported from the jail and that guy Jack Ruby, as we later found out, stepping out and shooting him right on live television.

[PlanetBev]

66. Brought back some memories for me, Curt

Earth Science...I was in eighth grade too, and haven't thought of that class for at least forty years.

[CurtEastPoint]

101. Of course, the earth is only 600 years old so... (LOL)

I loved "earth science' It was really cool.

[sdfernando]

9. I was in Germany

I don't remember anything about that day. I was 2 years old and the family was living in Germany at the time (my Dad was an officer in the Army). It was my parents 11th wedding anniversary. I don't think they celebrated very much.

[RaleighNCDUer]

73. Me, too.

I was at Fall Carnival at Spekenbutel School in Bremerhaven, and we drove there in our brand new VW minibus camper that we got just that day; it had a tent roof that unfolded up, and slept all six of us - so cool. I was at the "fishing" pond trying to snag a rubber duckie to get the prize that was numbered on it when the announcement came over the loudspeaker. Within minutes, the carnival shut down and everyone headed home, where I announced it to my sisters who were listening to records in their room.

[sdfernando]

81. You touched on something interesting in your post

You touched on something interesting in your post, specifically, how deeply this event affected people in OTHER countries. Germany seemed to have an especially close relationship with JFK, especially so after his visit to Berlin (I find it interesting that I was in Germany when the wall went up and when it came down).

Of the Presidents since Kennedy I think the only ones that come any where near that affection are Carter & Clinton. Carter more so after he left office due to his extensive humanitarian work. Clinton, well, he just has a charisma about him.

[Lowell]

10. Senior English Class

when it came over the intercom. I'd just seen him up close a couple days before in Tampa. It was a real shock. No one was hungry that night and we all went to bed early with our own thoughts.

[Marymarg]

11. HIgh school

I was in typing class when the Principal came to the door and told us that President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas and that it "may" be fatal.

[DURHAM D]

12. Getting ready for class - heard it on the radio.

This was Kansas and I thought it was a bad joke - I said to my room mate "That's not funny." Her response - "Well, you know a lot of people hate him".

Immediately after that the announcer came on and said "This is not a joke".

My college made a decision not to dismiss classes - students walked out anyway and did not return until after the funeral.

[demnan]

14. I was six

and I don't remember exactly where I was when I heard the news but it affected me deeply. I know that I cried until my parents had to get rid of those old harmless comedy records where a guy imitated Kennedy's voice. I made a huge fuss about that, I guess that was my way of grieving at six.

I do remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when Robert Kennedy was shot 5 years later.

[no_hypocrisy]

19. Me too. First Grade. Mrs. Wilson's class. The principal

announced his death over the school P.A. into every classroom in a disjointed voice. We knew it was serious. My personal impact was Caroline and John didn't have a Daddy anymore. It just didn't occur to me until I watched the funeral that week-end what it meant to this country.

[T Wolf]

23. Vaughn Meader - still have mine.

And for me, Bobby was the real gut-punch. His murder just took the idealism of a 16-year old and tore it out of me.

[Clinton Crusader]

28. I recently came upon The First Family Part II

Funny as hell, but not nearly as good as Part I.

Agree re: RFK. I still to this day cannot look at the films of him lying on the floor of the pantry, I always turn my head away.
:cry:

[demnan]

87. Those records are collectors items now

So many people threw them out after the assination. I try not to feel guilty about that, I was six.

[LostinVA]

15. A few months away from being a gleam in my father's eye n/t

[demosincebirth]

16. Was delivering products to McKesson-Robin, in downtown Oakland.

[The_Casual_Observer]

17. 2nd grade field trip to a lighthouse

A Coast Guard guy came running over to tell the guy who was conducting the tour.

[T Wolf]

18. I was in Mrs. Faison's 5th grade class. I did not know why she was crying.

In contrast to George Senior, I remember exactly where and when I heard what had happened.

He actually does know - the fucker was in Dallas, probably eye-deep in the shit. He just can't admit it - a family trait (as in traitor).

The sooner that family is purged from the scene, the better off this country and the world will be.

[oldtime dfl_er]

32. I was in 6th grade

My teacher was an Irish Catholic ex-Navy man who idolized JFK. When the Star Spangled Banner started playing over the loud speaker, he jumped to his feet and saluted, crying his eyes out the whole time. It still brings tears to my eyes to remember that!

And yep, George Sr was in Dallas, and was CIA at the time.

[Clinton Crusader]

47. Wasn't Nixon in Dallas as well? n/t

[dchill]

97. Yes, and so, apparently...

was Geo. H. W. Bush:

http://tomflocco.com/fs/FbiMemoPhotoLinkBushJfk.htm

Tangled web, meet weaver.

[Howardx]

42. hmmmmm

[alittlelark]

20. In my 6th month of gestation.

[0.5.empty]

21. I was in school

I was in 5th grade. Teachers had been alerted and my class was combined with the other 5th grade class. We knew something was up. Then my teacher told us that Kennedy had been shot. We were given crayons and paper. My picture was a family standing in front of a log cabin. Then Mr. Brownlee leaned in from outside and said "He's dead". School was cancelled for the rest of the day and I walked home. When I walked into my house, my father, who worked nights, was immersed in a painting project. He was surprised that I was home so early. I was the one who told my father, who worked on the Kennedy campaign, that Jack Kennedy was dead.

[Clinton Crusader]

26. "I was the one who told my father, who worked on the Kennedy campaign, that Jack Kennedy was dead."

wow. just wow.

Similarly, when my father came rushing and bounding into the house as if it was on fire, I was like, WHAT is going on? Then he sat in the armchair, which still resides in the house, and hung his head and cried. I was on the floor, scared, asking what's wrong, daddy?

I also, in my very small child way, remember being put out because Mr. Ed wasn't on; my parents trying to explain that President Kennedy was dead and this would be on for awhile. We had JUST met him, as my father worked in what was then known as The Pan Am Building on Park Ave. I THINK it was October, JFK was giving a speech at the UN. My parents ADORED him, and we were all there for it.

[rox63]

22. I was only 6 months old

So I don't recall exactly where I was. I was probably laying in a crib or playpen, or being held by a family member.

I do have later memories of seeing the news about the MLK and RFK assasinations on the teevee. (I was 5 then) I didn't exactly understand it at the time. But later I realized what I had seen.

[deepthought42]

24. My parents...

were 6 years old at the time, so obviously I was not around, but, as a person born well after this happened, I feel the loss of such a great person. I can only wonder how things would be different if he had lived... :patriot:

[htuttle]

25. In my crib, presumably

"What if you could've been there on that day in Dallas
What if you could wrestle back the hands of time
Maybe somethin' could've been done in Memphis
We wouldn't be livin' in a dream that's died"
-- Steve Earle, Conspiracy Theory

[al bupp]

27. Being only 2 1/2 at the time, I have no memories...

However, my mother tells a story that at the time the news came on the TV, I happened to have coincidentally knocked a glass or something off a table, causing it to break. I mistook my mother's tears over President Kennedy's death for a reaction to my accident, I tried to comfort her, saying that we could get another of whatever it was.

[michreject]

29. In grade school

My teacher got called into the hall. When she came back in, she was crying. We were told to go home. My mother still has the next day's paper reporting the event.

[Berry Cool]

30. Too young to remember; I was barely two.

My mother had a copy of a Time-Life book called Four Days that told the whole story in pictures and words. I learned the story of the JFK assassination that way. Vicariously, from that book and from reminiscences like these from people old enough to remember, I got the impression of how widely it affected people and how stunned and upset they were.

Not long after I was old enough to have a memory, assassinations were becoming all too common. There was 1968, the horrible year of MLK and RFK. I was just a little child and already learning the lesson that if you became a prominent person, someone was likely to try to shoot you and kill you. It was never just a story from a history book, like what happened to Lincoln.

[TheBaldyMan]

31. on a grassy knoll in Dallas TX

:sarcasm:

[OzarkDem]

33. In school, 3rd grade

Our teacher didn't tell us during class. It was raining outside, so we always lined up for the buses inside in the hallways. Rumors went up and down the lines that Kennedy had been shot, but we thought it was a rumor.

We talked about it all the way home, still thinking it was a rumor. When we walked into the house, my mom was sitting at her sewing machine in the rec room. Her eyes were red and she began crying as she got up and put her arms around all of us.

Mom loved Kennedy and had seen him at a rally years before when he was running for president. Our dad had suddenly passed the previous month, so it was already a sad time for us, but at least we didn't feel alone in our grief any longer.

For the first time ever, we pulled the portable tv into the kitchen as we ate dinner that night, watching Jackie as she arrived back in DC. Don't know why, but I recall we had beef stew for dinner.

Days later, we watched as Oswald was shot on live tv, yelled downstairs to mom who was doing laundry using her old wringer washer. She came running upstairs with her hair flying and her hands dripping wet from rinse water. We kind of wanted to cheer, but didn't feel it was right. It was a very confusing time.

[Clinton Crusader]

37. Oswald being shot...

THIS I remember clearly as if it were yesterday. We went to church (something my family rarely does) and walked back into the house, put the TV on, and you couldn't have counted to 10 when Oswald was shot.

I remember my mother being glad initially, I think she wanted some revenge, as the MSM had already pounded it into everyone's head that he was the lone assassin, but as time passed, they realized now no one will ever know just what his involvement was.

[Chalco]

34. Getting something out of my high school locker.

Someone yelled, "Kennedy's been shot" and we all ran to the auditorium. I think a TV was set up, we all kept watching, then he died. It was pandemonium. I cried for a week.

[roamer65]

35. JFK saved the world during the Cuban missile crisis.

Nixon would have invaded or bombed Cuba and set off WW 3. JFK's pragmatic, wise leadership through that crisis averted global thermonuclear war. If he had been re-elected in 1964, I have no doubt Vietnam would not have happened and we would have started meaningful dialogue with the Soviet Union much, much earlier. He's one man I still would love to have met, shook his hand and thanked him for all he did for us.

[Clinton Crusader]

43. what a great post!!

AB-solutely! He doesn't get NEARLY enough credit for his masterful handling of the CMC. It seems so far away now, and some think it's overblown, but people were panicked; buying every bit of canned food in the store, my mother had SUITCASES packed! She's British and was going to get the hell out of here. The Russians even thought it would come to that. An excellent movie on the CMC is Thirteen Days, geez, Ive seen it about a dozen times or more.

[B Calm]

60. JFK won the Cold War

[Homer Wells]

36. Study Hall in the lunch room at Robinson High

in Tampa.
I remember I was sitting in the front row, right by the stage, when Mr Bustello let us know.
The PA system, from the school office, broadcast the newscast saying Kennedy had been shot.

We were mostly in shock, but there were some who grasped the truth immediately, and broke down crying. I think they let us go home that afternoon, but I remember that my school and Chamberlain High were the only two schools in the county that went ahead with the football game. (Of course the game was a total disaster)!

The feeling I remember strongest was this feeling of total loss. Kennedy had been OUR President, a realization of new birth and optimism, uniquely of OUR generation, rising from the stodgy and stale period of the Eisenhower era. His death heralded the death of our innocence, (and naivete), which morphed into the activism and abandon of the late 60's and early 70's.
(edited to add:)

I just remembered that the television news satire show on NBC (That Was the Week That Was) featured a very haunting song composed that same day called "In the Summer of his Years" that I can still remember to this day.

"A young man rode with his head held high
Under the Texas sun.
And no one guessed that a man so blessed
Would perish by the gun

A shot rang out, like an angry shout
And heaven held its breath.
For the hopes and dreams of a multitude
Rode with him to his death

Now the heart of the world hangs heavy
With the sadness and the tears
For the man gunned down,
In that Texas town
In the summer of his years,
in the summer of his years.

There was another verse, but I cant recall it right now.I would like to find the mp3 of that tune, but so far, no luck.

[Clinton Crusader]

72. I actually HAVE this on tape somewhere...

A friend of mine made me a few cassettes of songs written about Dallas, and this is on there.

[Homer Wells]

90. That is GREAT!

I can't understand why it is not online somewhere. I looked in Wikipedia, and they talk about it being broadcast that night on the BBC. NBC re-aired it on Saturday the 23rd, which is when I heard it.

[joneschick]

38. it was my 7th birthday

my parents were fairly apolitical at the time so I was fairly unaware of the President. I was fully aware that all the grownups were very upset and that my birthday had been virtually cancelled. Yeah, that makes me 50 today.
I was in Mrs. Fisher's 2nd grade and Mrs. Winters came to the door for a whispered conference with my teacher. Then the news came over the intercom. Some students prayed, I remember putting my head in my desk and crying. I don't remember if we were sent home. Over the next few days we watched the story unfold on the news. Caroline had a dress coat like mine. I've watched her from a distance ever since. She is one awesome human. Her father would have been so proud of her.
Peace. Out.

[ScreamingMeemie]

39. I was preconception stage. But my father was working a the Journal in Milwaukee

and he said they thought it was a prank being pulled when it came over the wire. He was just stunned.

[Mist]

40. In school (kindergarten). The teacher bowed her head and cried. nt

[louis-t]

41. Thanks for posting. I was in 2nd grade.

I can recite word for word what the principal said over the intercom. And yet to this day, every time I try I get choked up.

[MaineYooper]

Still in the womb!

about 3 and a half months from being born.

[jwirr]

44. At home reading until my parents called me at 2 o'clock about it.

I went to the bank a few minutes after it happened to put money in a savings account and they stamped the date upside down. I didn't notice it so I didn't ask why.

[donsu]

45. in the Library of Congress doing research (Wash., D.C.)

someone came in and whispered that he had been shot and killed.

going home in the car, in the usual traffic that seemed normal, was a surreal feeling. I kept thinking - 'how can things be going on as usual. someone just murdered the president'.

[SutaUvaca]

46. Eleventh grade algebra class.

They put it on the school's PA system.
We went home early that day.
I felt like JFK was the first President I voted for, because I had talked my Baptist parents into voting for him.
I remember all of us sort of rooting for the doctors to pull off a miracle, but no.
A few years later an Air Force buddy from Dallas drove me along that route. Spooky.

[AndyA]

48. I was too young for school, so I was at home and barely remember a

neighbor running over to tell my Mom about what she saw on TV. She didn't want to be at home and watch alone, so she ran next door to watch the news with my Mother. I remember both of them seemed very upset, but I didn't understand why at the time.

I do remember the TV being on, and there seemed to be a lot of commotion.

That was a dark day in American history. As was the day George Bush took the oath of office.

[treestar]

94. I must be about your age

I just remember the black and white TV being on and the general air of distress.

[kineneb]

49. just home from kindergarten, age 5

had half-day kindergarten in those days. Grandma was quite upset. We watched the coverage on the black & white TV.

Mostly I remember watching the funeral; I felt really sad for his children, since they were so close to my own age.

(I don't remember too much, as I have memory problems.)

[dmosh42]

52. Home on leave

I was reading a paper and listening to music when my Mom came in from shopping and told me to turn on the tv. Something about the president. When I heard Cronkite tell what he knew, I remembered thinking that this only happened in the 19th century in the USA. And this, like 9/11, was one of the few times I remember the whole country in shock for a few days. Everyone was glued to their tvs or radios to get something about how this would play out. Of course the news was slow to be released, probably to get more time to cover tracks!

[dubykc]

54. In my kindergarten class in Alpena Michigan

[rsdsharp]

55. I was nine years old and in the fourth grade.

I had just returned to school after eating lunch at home, and was watching a kickball game on the playground when a classmate told me that President Kennedy had been shot. A few minutes later the bell rang, and we trooped into class. Mrs. Sogard was a veteran teacher, with only a year or so away from retirement. She knew how to keep us calm, even though any thought of lessons was out the window, and the sole topic of conversation was the shooting.

The school had one TV, used by the sixth graders to watch a program on Iowa history once a week. It was usually in the principal's office, and he obviously was making use of it that day. Mr. Cole came to our classroom at 1:41 PM CST and told us that the President had died. That would have been less than five minutes after Walter Cronkite had made his announcement. I remember the time, because everyone felt a compulsion to write it down for some reason. Mr. Cole had probably composed himself, and then stopped at the sixth and fifth grade rooms on the way to our classroom, before turning around to go to the other side of the building to tell classes 3-1. Shortly thereafter school was dismissed, and I walked home with two friends.

[asjr]

56. At work in KC, KS and heard it on the radio

which was piped through the entire building.

[sinkingfeeling]

57. Algebra class.

[B Calm]

58. 7th grade study hour. Announced it over the PA. Students and teachers

were all crying.. When I got home from school my WW2 combat dad was in tears..

[Minnesota_Lib]

59. I was at elementry school in Redwood City, Ca.....I was 10 years old

I remember the teacher was interrupted when one of the school's office workers came to the door. They went outside to speak for a moment and the teacher returned looking visibly shaken. She told us to sit silently and wait for an announcement from the Principle.

A short time later, the Principle's voice came over the PA. He gave us the news that the President had just been shot and that classes were being dismissed for the day. Those that took the bus were told to wait in class until the buses arrived to take them home. Those that walked to school could leave immediately and go straight home. I remember the teacher saying it was okay for those waiting for their buses to pray for the President.

I found my older brother in the schoolyard and we rounded up my younger brother and sister and with them in tow we headed home. I don't recall much from that 10-15 minute walk except that my older brother seemed to have a sense of urgency and the rest of us had trouble keeping pace. I had my little sister by the hand and we eventually fell behind and finally lost sight of Kevin.

I do recall the scene when I arrived home. I will never forget it. My older brother, who had arrived ahead of the rest of us, was there in the living room with our hardline Republican mother, my grandmother and my great aunt Lillian, all eyes glued to Walter Cronkite on the old black and white. My grandmother sternly told us all to sit down and be quite. My mother, who was a master at holding her emotions in check to the point of often seeming cold and detached, held a clinched fist to her mouth, tears streaming from her reddened eyes.

It may be a trick of memory but I recall seeing uncle Walter make the grim announcement and pausing to maintain his composure. It may be that I have seen it replayed so many times over the years that it has seeped into the memories of that long ago day.

It's funny how I could not tell you with certainty of one other memory from that year, but after all this time I still can see this day fairly clearly in my mind's eye.

[proud2BlibKansan]

61. In 5th grade

We had the day off of school due to parent teacher conferences. We were at the bowling alley. We had a school bowling league and instead of going after school that Friday, we went in the morning.

One of the 6th graders came running into the bowling alley yelling that the president had been shot. It was around noon and it was a Friday.

Then I remember just watching TV for days on end. That was unusual back then.

This was also the first time I saw my mom cry.

[helderheid]

62. not even a twinkle in my mother's eye. I was born in 1975

[GymGeekAus]

84. My dad's eyes still twinkle.

I was born in 1973.

Anyone remember the name of the place where the negative numbers go in Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator? It seems like I should remember that detail. Was it "Minusland" or something?

[tnlefty]

63. Honestly, I don't remember, but I do remember the rest of that day and

the next 4 or 5 afterwards. The news was on constantly and my parents were home from work, and everybody was upset.

I grew up in a really small town and everything just seemed to shut down. The phone rang a lot and I can still hear my mother saying, "I don't know what the world is coming to when someone would shoot the President." The mood around me was somber and dark.

I remember seeing John's salute and hearing my mother burst into tears at the same time.

[Connie_Corleone]

64. I was non-existent until 1971. I was born on Bobby Kennedy's birthday though.

[PlanetBev]

65. 8th grade typing class

Came over the P.A. system. I turned 13 only five days before it happened.

[CountAllVotes]

68. I was in grade school at the time

They announced over the PA system that "President Kennedy has been assassinated. Everyone is to go home."

And so I went home. There was no one there. My mother came home a few hours later and had not heard. She wanted to know why I was home early and was really angry. I told her that President Kennedy had been killed (I did not know what the word "assassinated" meant).

She said :wtf: !

She turned on the radio and heard the news and broke down and began to cry, something she rarely if ever did.

It was the saddest day I can remember in my life historically speaking; RFK was right up there however.

RIP President Kennedy! RIP!

:dem:

[William769]

69. In my mothers womb. EOM

[WinkyDink]

70. Home sick from school, watching "Hawaiian Eye", being ticked at the interruption,

until....

[Island Blue]

71. I was 3 months old.

According to my mom, she heard it on the radio while she was feeding me a bottle.

[Javaman]

74. In my stroller...

However, as an adult I'm proud to say I was born during his era.

I have much about him since and I find it said that his life was a life only half completed. He had so much more to do and give.

[RaleighNCDUer]

75. You know, I don't really recall.

George H W Bush.

[Cleita]

76. At work. A friend called me to tell me he had been assassinated.

I told our manager who brought out a radio, which our floor listened to the rest of the day. He let us off early, saying that there was no way anyone could work this day after that.

[kestrel91316]

77. On vacation in Baguio, the Phillippines. Age 6. We saw the flags at half-mast

and the guy running the miniature golf course told us what had happened.

[joanski0]

78. I was working in the Executive Office Building

next door to the White House. We were all absolutely devastated and in a daze. We loved President Kennedy and his family so much. It was a joy to work in his Administration. As you can imagine, it was very much different than the current one.

Washington, D.C. just shut down and everyone went home. The streets were crowded with traffic and people, but it was so eeriely silent out there. I will never, never forget it. It was like everyone was in a state of shock.

[Historic NY]

79. St. Patricks School, Newburgh N.Y..........

man I am getting old and I shall never forget. The entire day the emotion all comes back in an instance. We all lost something that day, in particular our innocence. We would later lose the trust we placed in our country. 43 yrs, My God, what could have been.

The nuns came in crying and class was dismissed. A lots of the kids from the Air Force Base were worried. We really didn't quite know what was going on until Cronkite told us. (Day when you could trust him like your grandfather). We went home and spent the next severals day glued in front of our black & white TV set.

I was young but had the pleasure of meeting JFK in May of 1963 he was heading to West Point for graduation and we were going on a class trip to a local farm. We kids screamed loud enough,"President Kennedy, President Kennedy", that he got out of his car and came on the bus. It was amazing him standing in the asile of the bus patting us on the head, messing our hair and shaking hands. I recall a lot of us kids got real quiet and couldn't speak when he asked us questions. When we got back to the school later in the day at first no one believed us and then after the teachers told the principal well the whole school was crazy. The yeah right, went to WOW.

Where has the time gone........

[prairierose]

80. We were still at recess when the shooting happened....

when we came back into the school, they turned on the intercom system with the radio playing. This was unprecedented. Eventually after the announcement of JFK's death, we were told to go home. Everyone, teachers, students and everyone we encountered on that day was crying. I walked home with neighbor kids and went into the house and we watched tv. This was the first time that I remember the television news being on and live for hours. I remember watching tv for days...through the funeral.

[KansDem]

82. In an orthodontist's chair...

...5th grade. I was supine in the chair looking up at the ceiling. I was waiting for the orthodontist who was working on another kid when I heard the office phone ring. The receptionist answer it in her usual manner but then her voice quickly turn to one of somber disbelief. I then heard her walk back to where the orthodontist was working and say, "The President's been shot..."

[QMPMom]

83. Grade One, Mrs. Gordon's class.

She told us what had happened and was crying. I remember her laying her head on her desk and just sobbing. We were all dismissed and sent home.

[maveric]

85. 2nd grade classroom, Salem NH.

Miss Plummer's class. A lot of wet eyes from the teachers on that day.

[Nimrod2005]

86. I think I was just a sperm then...nt.

[Blue_In_AK]

88. Mrs. McCafferty's 1:00 English class

South Houston High School, my senior year. A day that changed my life forever.

[VOX]

89. 14 years old, sitting in 10th Grade French class on the West Coast...

An initial bulletin was read over the PA: "The president has been shot in Dallas..." A few minutes later, a second bulletin came in: "The president is dead."

I will never forget the anguished look on the teacher's face; she was an older woman, kind and generous, and the news made her turn her body away from the kids.

Some of us were crying, some ran out to use the pay phone to call their parents, and some of us -- myself included -- simply sat in stunned silence.

A decision was made to keep classes in session, but for the rest of the day, the teachers simply talked with us about what had happened, and asked us how we were dealing with it emotionally.

That evening, we had to pick my dad up at the airport (he was returning from a business trip). We stopped to eat at a coffee shop, which was nearly empty. Our waitress was fighting back the tears. We ate without much conversation -- there was simply nothing much to say at that point.

What a horrible, long, grim day -- one of the worst in my memory. In retrospect, I can see that it sparked a major personal funk that lasted for about a year. I got by, did well in school, but something fundamental was irretrievably lost.

[Mugu]

91. Out on the playground of with my fifth grade class.

I remember another student running out screaming that the President had been shot.

[slackmaster]

92. President Kennedy was KILLED?

:argh:

[Shine]

93. in utero. I was born the following spring. n/t

[Seeking Serenity]

95. Hey, moi aussi!

When the following Spring?

[Shine]

102. March 25th.

:D

:hi: muddleofpudd!

[Seeking Serenity]

106. April 19

:hi: you lovely 42-year-old, you!

[Shine]

108. awww...back atcha!

:pals: greetings, fellow Aries! :hi:

[sakabatou]

96. 24 years before I was born

I have no input. Sorry.

[orpupilofnature57]

98. In 1st grade ,and about to enter the fascist phase of America

[KamaAina]

99. Looking for Sam Brownback so he could help me talk

still an embryo then, born 8/5/64. :P

[Kingofalldems]

100. Latin II class-10th grade

[lanlady]

103. in third grade class

The principal came on the PA and told the students that they were sending us home early -- didn't say why, but her voice was shaking so we knew it was bad. We walked out of the school to find all the moms lined up waiting to pick us up; many of them were sobbing. We spent the next 3 days in front of the TV, crying and crying. I remember watching Jack Ruby kill Oswald and 3-yr-old John John saluting the casket. It still breaks my heart. Those were deeply sad days.

[Annces]

104. I was on the grassy knoll

Oops I shouldn't have revealed that. Nevermind.

[flying_wahini]

105. I was Oswald's mother's nurse, I worked with her several

months before she died in Fort Worth. A rather mean woman- to put it kindly. She had an inherent mistrust of people, and was extremely demanding. Her other son looked so much like his brother that I almost fainted the first time I saw him.

[RedEarth]

109. Great picture of JFK

[LibertyLover]

110. In Mrs. Gavigan's 5th grade class in Edward H. Bryan School

One of my classmates had gone down to the nurse's office earlier in the afternoon. I think she had a nosebleed. Anyway she came running back into class interrupting a free reading period saying the president had been shot. We didn't believe her. But a few minutes later the principal got on the PA system and announced that the president had been shot while visiting Dallas, Texas and was dead. I don't remember if they dismissed us early or if it was the end of the day, but I remember that we left soon after that announcement. I went to a friend's house and we watched television for an hour or so and then I went home. My father was already home and in the process of getting dinner. We carried my little portable tv out to the dinette so that we could watch the news. My mom got home from work soon afterwards. If you asked me about the weather for the next 30 days of official mourning, I would tell you that it was cold, dark and cheerless. That's how it seemed to me.