JFK assassinated 47 years ago today...

[Bill Pressler]

I was at recess in Mrs. Orr's kindergarten class in Greenville, PA when another kindergarten teacher ran over with a transistor radio and she and Mrs. Orr listened intently. I remember complaining that there were no cartoons on TV, as usual, that weekend.

I guess so many years have passed, it's not the national news story on this date that it used to be. There's not even anything on prime time TV tonight on either the History Channel or Discovery about it. Kind of sad.

Whether you liked him or not, a lot of things changed that day. To this day, an early '60's Lincoln instantly reminds me of the Presidential Limousine he was riding in when assassinated.

I'd like to get back to Dealey Plaza and the Sixth Floor Museum some day. I spent much of a day there about twenty years ago and found the entire area fascinating.

[raoul5788]

The world is vastly different because of the Kennedy assassination. Who knows in what way it is different, but no doubt about it, very different.

[Gary1953]

There were two programs on one of the channel last night. I don't remember the name.

[rockinhawk]

I was skipping school and strolling on the beach in Jacksonville Fla. I found out about it when I snuck back as classes changed.

The only thing I heard on TV this week was a rehash of some conspiracy theorys. NT

[rockne10]

I was in Harry O. Lawson's seventh grade math class when we heard the news; had just seen him a couple months earlier when he made an interim campaign swing through my hometown.

[Milaca]

I was at recess in Mrs. Orr's kindergarten class in Greenville, PA when another kindergarten teacher ran over with a transistor radio and she and Mrs. Orr listened intently. I remember complaining that there were no cartoons on TV, as usual, that weekend.

Good thing you have an air-tight allibye or I might accuse you of being the other assasin on the grassy knoll. Seriously though, is Mrs. Orr available to vouch for your whereabouts that day?

Okay, all rediculous dark humor aside, it's amazing how such events remain with us even if we were children at the time. I recall sitting in front of the huge combination RCA color television/stereo/phonograph in 1977 when a news report came on television stating that Elvis Presley had died. I recall turning to my mom and asking "Who's Elvis Presley?". I was nearly six at the time and had not yet become familiar with his music. Not too long after, I became a fan of a cassette tape of the 'G.I. Blues' movie soundtrack which contained some of my favorites which are seldom, if ever, played on old rock stations.
Back to JFK, his assasination parallels the closing of the South Bend Studebaker plant as it raises the question "What could have been had they not died". I guess that also applies to Elivis, being that he was still recording new songs up until the end. He may have had more hit songs had he remained alive, but we will never know.

[S_Ferrell]

My mother was a waitress at our local Bobs Big Boy, you might know it as Shonys, she was ironing her waitress uniform watching Secret Storm. Walter Concrike come on with the news. She calle my father at
work at Ford Motor, he was HR Director, he put her voice on the plant loudspeaker and that is how Brookpark Ohio Ford heard about it.

[Bob Bryant]

Several of you have mentioned that you were in the classroom when President Kennedy was assassinated. I was in the classroom, too, but it was my first year to work in education. The principal came in to my classroom teary-eyed and told me about the death of the president.

[8E45E]

It was just before lunch hour here in the Mountain time zone when it happened. My dad walked in the front door, and one thing he never did in the past was come home for lunch! Of course, my mom asked what he was doing home, and told us the bad news. His work sent everyone home knowing that their minds wouldn't be on their jobs the rest of that day. I seem to repeat myself every year on this day: http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...hlight=kennedy

Craig

[StudHawk60]

There's not even anything on prime time TV tonight on either the History Channel or Discovery about it. Kind of sad.

.

The only thing historic on the History Channel anymore are the old artifacts brought into the pawn shop or things found by the "pickers". What a waste of air time.

[Bill Pressler]

Seriously though, is Mrs. Orr available to vouch for your whereabouts that day?


No, sadly Mrs. Orr passed away just a month or two ago in Greenville. She was 93.

She had a great memory. I mean, Greenville was a small town, but my Mom was always amazed that if she saw Mrs. Orr at the supermarket, she'd remember my Mom--even when I was in high school. I'm not sure what that says about what kind of student I had been in her class!

I last saw her about two years ago at the local Historical Society museum. She looked great. When I told her who I was, she promptly rattled off the names of my two best kindergarten buddies--and she was right! She gave me a hug when I left.

She's one of that generation of people that you just don't know how they can be replaced, or who will replace them.

[Johnnywiffer]

I was living in Dallas at the time but was in Hartford CT, going to school with Underwood typewriters. They had just been bought by Olivetti and had changed their name to Underwood-Olivetti (Later Olivetti-Underwood). The other guy from Dallas was named Johnson. When the announcement was made, Johnson said, “Heck! Now we’re REALLY in a mess. That guy Lyndon Johnson is a bigger crook than Kennedy.”

Being from Dallas at the time, people would ask me, “What is going on down there?” as if I was right on top of things. I finally called my wife in Dallas and asked her what she knew.

She said, “What do you mean? I haven’t heard anything. Brian (our son) dropped the car keys down a hole in the wall and I’ve spent the last hour trying to fish them out.” So much for up-to-the-minute!

They recessed classes that day, so we went back to the hotel and stayed glued to the TV. And of course, were watching the next day when Ruby shot Oswald. Johnson turned to me and said, “What the H*** is going on down there?”

“You know as much as I do, Man. But the whole world is gonna HATE Big D!” No one actually said much about it, but we could feel a difference in attitude the next Monday when we finally went back to class. We were not exactly pariahs but were not exactly teacher’s pets, either.

That evening, we took a taxi from the school to downtown Hartford. Of course, the assassination was the topic in the cab. After a few minutes, the driver said, “I knew Ruby when he was trying to sell guns to Castro.”

“First I heard THAT,” I said. “When did this happen and why don’t the Feds know about it?”

“They prob‘ly do, just don’t talk about it. But he DID try to sell guns to Castro when he was in the hills, before he took over. But Castro didn’t have the money so Ruby forgot about it.”

Interesting tidbit, huh?

John

[Bob Andrews]

I was 2 1/2 years old (for some reason young parents today call that 30 months??). I can remember a little about it at the time, seeing the funeral procession on TV. Mostly I remember how devastated my mother was; she thought the country was done for with him gone.

For me, He will always be a hero, best of all the way he stood strong and unflinching during the Cuban Missile Crisis. I learned about it after the fact, but I wonder if I'd have been intimidated into blinking by Krushchev banging his shoe on the table saying "WE WILL BURY YOU!!" It's one thing to stand up against nutcases and lunatic despots for yourself and your loved ones, but it's another thing again with the fate of an entire country hanging in the balance. Talk about high stakes!

JFK will always be a hero of mine for what he stood for and belived in regarding his country; so sorely lacking today. I choose to forget his immature trysts with women. At least I try to forget...

All in all, God rest JFK.

[ddub]

I was a student-teacher, sitting the faculty room eating lunch when the news was announced. I don't remember anything else about that day. I always wonder what would have happened in Vietnam had Kennedy been alive. How different things would be if...

[556063]

Being 47yrs and about 8months old, I don't have any memories of the sad event. I can count myself among the ever smaller number of folks who were alive when it happened, though.

With no actual perspective of the period before, all I can gather is that a huge portion of our ability to trust died that day. I wish I could have experienced what life was like before it happened. Such events had taken place before in our history. We've never fully recovered from that day. And, it's getting close to being three generations ago.