Where were you the day JFK was shot?

[Pam]

In light of the upcoming 40th anniversary of the death of JFK I was just wondering how many Pet Talkers remember him and also remember what they were doing when they heard the news. I know this will be a thread of *showing our age* as many of you were probably not even alive. :o

I was a senior in high school in the last period of the day. Class was just starting and an announcement came over the PA system. When I tell you that you could hear a pin drop I am not exaggerating. After class there was just sobbing in the hallways and not the usual boisterous noise that high school kids are known for at the end of the day. I remember being totally numb and scared at the same time.

How about you? If you were alive at the time how about posting where you were and your first thoughts.

[dukedogsmom]

I was a twinkle in my daddy's eye :)

[babolaypo65]

Originally posted by dukedogsmom
I was a twinkle in my daddy's eye :)

DITTO

[Pam]

:o

[Kfamr]

I was a little baby doll owned by my mother that she had dreams of coming to life. :rolleyes: :p

[Amber]

I wasnt alive, but I asked my mom and she was 6months old at the time! lol prolly drooling somewhere....:p

[catland]

I was seven years old and in second grade. I just remember everyone being very sad and school was let out early that day.

I didn't know much of Kennedy at that time other than he was out to see the Seattle Worlds Fair a couple of years before and that was really exciting because I had been to the world's fair (we lived a couple of hours west of Seattle)

[lizbud]

Pam,

I remember that sad day very well.:( I was young woman
working in my first real job at a General Electric Finance
office in Indy. JFK was my idol & the first President that I had
the pleasure of voting for. I was young & very idealistic. Kennedy
gave me the idea that each person mattered in this country &
young people could effect real positive change for the good in
this country. I was talking to our Cincinnati office about shipping
an electrical transformer to Indy for a local contracter. All of a
sudden the person I was talking to started shouting & crying
Oh No, Oh No over and over. She then told me that they were
publicly announcing that the President had been shot & killed in
Dallas, Texas. I was just devastated. I felt like I had lost the
Father that I never had.:( I'll never forget it.

[Prairie Purrs]

I was six years old. Things were a little wacky at school (I had just been moved from first grade to second grade), so although I must have heard at school that JFK had been shot, I don't remember it. But I do remember when Oswald was killed a couple days later. My parents and I were in the car, on the way back from a shopping trip, when we heard about it on the radio. And I remember watching the TV coverage of JFK's funeral. I felt sad for Caroline, who was about the same age as I was.

[joycenalex]

my family had taken me and my one year younger sister to the labor day rally in detroit in 1959, right after mr kennedy had got the democratic party nomination for the presidency. i have very fuzzy memories of JFK shaking my fathers and my hand along the rope line after his speech.
on that dark day, it was sunny and cold in michigan. the first grade class had just started the after lunch session when the teacher was summoned to the office by the principal via the school speaker. she left the room and stayed away for some time. she returned in tears. we were sent home. i remember watching walter cronkite, in his shirtsleeves reading the news. (no news person EVER spoke on the news without being in a proper suit then) i remember going to mass that night to pray for his soul and for the country. i remember the stillness in the neighborhood during the funeral. i remember seeing the pictures in the detroit free press the next days.

[popcornbird]

I didn't exist...............actually..............I was 20-something years away from existence! My mom was a little kid back then.......probably playing with dolls and stuff. :o

[Cincy'sMom]

That was 13 years before I was born, which I guess means my parents were in junior high...

[Freckles]

I was in my early 30's working at a small 2 employee print shop (plus owners). We had our radio on only for breaks and lunch time. My co-worker's daughter called with the news and we immediately put on the radio and heard the report from Dallas. I remembered they played the Star Spangled Banner. We were both numb, often looking at each other and shaking our heads. Shop was closed on Monday, no pay. No pay was ok, we didn't feel like working.

At home TV was on constantly and we saw what happened to Oswald. On Monday, we saw most of the early services on TV, then left for a local church service. Then back home for the rest of the day, watching TV. Worst part for me, always in tears, was watching people go by the casket at the white house and rotunda.

Every year I reread my copy of The Torch is Passed, an Associated Press book rushed into publication.

Last night on my Public TV channel, there was an excellent documentary "JFK: Breaking the News" which explained how broadcast journalism was changed forever by this event. Hopefully it will be rerun, so watch it, if you can.
I don't watch the "conspiracy theory" shows.

Pam, thanks for starting this thread.

[mugsy]

I had just turned 2 the month before, so I don't have any working memory of the event. My parents and both my sisters remember what they were doing though. I can't even imagine the horror, even if you didn't like him.

[Logan]

Pam, I don't know where I was. I was truly too young to know as I guess I was about 14 months old. I am NOT trying to age you!!! :) But Scott and I watched a documentary on JFK and the Kennedy family, night before last, on PBS. It was very sobering to see all that built up to that day in 1963, and also the death of Bobby Kennedy in 1968.

[Edwina's Secretary]

I was 10 years old. I know I was in school and I remember one boy who stood up and cheered when the anouncement was made (he didn't know what he was doing....had heard his parents talk I'm sure.) Everyone else was silent.

[Pam]

Originally posted by Freckles

Last night on my Public TV channel, there was an excellent documentary "JFK: Breaking the News" which explained how broadcast journalism was changed forever by this event. Hopefully it will be rerun, so watch it, if you can.


There is also a special tonight at 9:00 EST hosted by Peter Jennings which supposedly will take a bit of a different slant to it. It looks interesting so you might want to catch that.

I didn't see the program you refer to but I do agree that this changed so many things forever in this country. I do believe that the networks had live coverage around the clock for the first time I ever remembered seeing. I still remember the sounds of those drums as the funeral procession made its way down the street. Gives me chills just remembering.

[RICHARD]

My dad had 'twinkled' me out of his system already.

I was five years old....

I don't remember the shooting but I do remember the funeral. I was standing next to the telly and I'd like to think I remember John Jr's saluting...
I do remember the caisson being pulled behind the horses..... I do remember the next year and seeing the JFK picture in all the classrooms.

[Felicia's Mom]

I remember that day very well. I was living at home with my parents. I had graduated from Hi-school in May.

I was home by myself; everyone else was either at work or in school. I watched TV all morning, but turned it off before 12:30. Then I played the piano and photograph records until 3:30 when I turned the TV back on.

It wasn't the show I was expecting to see however. It looked like a live news broadcast. So I turned it to another and then the last station (we only had 3 stations back then). Each time it was the same thing.

I was ready to turn off the TV when one newsman said something about shooting the president. I think:"The president?, they don't mean the U.S. president!" After I found out, I watched it in a daze.

[mahayana]

I was sitting on a school bus waiting to go home when someone came onto the bus with the news. I was in the 9th grade, had just turned 14.

My parents didn't like Kennedy, they were Republicans. I remember thinking that they might like Johnson better as he was a Texan too.

I have lots of memories of Jack Kennedy, he seemed much smarter and less nervous than Dick Nixon in the TV debates (black & white TV) before the 1960 elections.

He started the space program, he was the youngest president...I really grew to appreciate his idealism more after his death.

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

I, too was only like 18 months old or something like that. We were watching that show on PBS the other night too, and when Terry asked me where I was, and I said I had no idea, he looked at me like I had two heads! He said how can you not remember? I reminded him that I was just a baby and didn't remember anything so how would I remember this? ;) :D

I do remember, though, where I was when I heard Princess Diana had died and how awful I felt about that, and I really think that was similar to how everyone felt with Kennedy - but more so because he was an American, and a most beloved president.

My parents know exactly where they were and Terry remembers - he was in school and an announcement came over the loud speaker. He said kids were crying and everything and it was just awful.

Right now there is a special about Lee Harvey Oswald. He was a sharp shooter in the Marines.....

[lovemyshiba]

I wasn't born yet, however I can remember my mom telling me how everyone remembers where they were when they heard that awful news. I didn't really know what she meant by that, I didn't remember much, but that changed when I heard about the Challenger explosion--4th grade, my teacher came in crying and told us about it--that was the first tragedy I came to remember as strongly as many of you remember Kennedy's assassination.

Unfortunatley, I can remember quite a few others now too, for example the Oklahoma City bombings, the Columbine shooting, the first time the WTC was bombed, 9-11, and others, all of which are making me sad to think about.

[Karen]

I was not yet born, but my older sister remembers that day because they interrupted Captain Kangaroo with the news. She was just mad that they interupted her favorite show, didn't know the impact of what they were saying. She was 4 years old.

[G.P.girl]

i wasn't born, but my grama told me about it a few times.

[Rachel]

I was a sophomore at Wisconsin State University in EauClaire. It was during the noon hour and the TV was on at the Student Center lounge, when I saw people starting to gather around it. We were stunned as we watched the reports coming about the happenings in Dallas. I remember walking the halls in a daze to my first class after lunch, which was sociology. I had always liked and admired my professor and felt that he would help the class deal with what had just happened. Can you imagine the shock I experienced when the class was held and conducted without ANYONE mentioning what had just occurred? I couldn't believe I was attending an institution of higher learning, and a professor of sociology couldn't or wouldn't deviate from the lesson plan to acknowledge the assasination President of the United States, and none of the students brought it up either. My mind was screaming...Are you people crazy? Doesn't what happened matter to anybody? I have always regretted not standing up and saying that out loud. Instead I walked out of class in more of a state of shock than when I came in. The idealism and innocence which I lost that day put me into a serious depression, although I didn't realize what it was.

[babolaypo65]

Wow Rachel. That's just wrong.

I was teaching when 9/11 happened. Lord, we certainly didn't go on with the lesson.

[Twisterdog]

I wasn't born yet, when JFK was killed.

I was, however, in seventh grade science class when they announced the assassination attempt on President Reagan.

Does that count?

[trayi52]

Edwina's Secretary
I was about 10 years old at the time, somewhere in that age brackett, but I remember I was in class and they came in and announced that Kennedy had been shot and killed, I was so shocked, because just about everybody in my class stood up and cheered!!! Not just one person either.
Anyway I watched everything on TV, the furneral, Jackie coming up and kissing his casket, it was all so sad to me. Yeah I cried.
I remember it all so well.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I was still a baby. My Mom said that she was grocery shopping at the time and I was with her. They announced that he was shot over the PA system.

[Barbara]

I was eight years old then and I was deeply in love with Jackie Kennedy. I had called my doll Caroline (in English pronounciation). I loved her dresses, her smiles.

The Kennedys were the first politicians I ever noticed and they were so much more beautiful like any others I'd heard before.

I knew that all other politicians had similar names like Eisenhower and Adenauer and Ollenhauer (a SPD politician which is now forgotten). The Kennedys were different:D :D :D

So it was a great shock for me and I remember that I heard it in the news (maybe radio?) in the evening. My parents were somehow shocked but not as much as I. I was wondering why Caroline and John John were allowed to wear blue grey coats as here they would have worn black.

[lynnestankard]

I was 17 and had just arrived home at about 6pm and we'd had dinner - Dad put the TV on for the news - and there it all was -he'd been shot - he was dead and they kept replaying that horrible bit of film over and over again - I felt so shocked - how could anyone do this to a President? Ah the stupidity of youth!

I remember Bobby being shot in 1968 and being so upset - when he died I was in tears - I had time for that guy.

Twisterdog - LOL!!

Lynne

[mugsy]

I was listening to Imus in the Morning today on my way to school and he was interviewing Nelly Connolly (wife of the Texas governor at the time of the Kennedy shooting) and she was in the car when JFK was shot. She was saying how awful it was. Her husband was shot also, but lived. She talked about hearing the 3 shots and looking around the car and seeing it riddled with buckshot and blood, she talked about watching JFK slump in the seat, she talked about John Connolly being concerned that Jackie and Nelly would be shot also. She does not believe that there was a conspiracy and she believes that Oswald did the shooting and she believes that it was from the book depository and not the grassy knoll. I guess I consider her to be credible since she WAS there. It gave me a new perspective on the assassination. I often wonder how the world would have been different had JFK not been killed.

Do you think that he would have been as immortalized had he lived? Do you think he would have ended up being like Clinton with his womanizing? Do you think we would have been in Vietnam as long if he had lived? Do you think we would have a different relationship with Cuba?

Ok, I'm done asking questions now. I'll shut up! :)

[lbaker]

I was in High School and being in the Washington DC suburbs we felt the effects of the whole city being numbed. I had gone to his inaugeration and had watched the parade from my mothers work balcony. I remember it was a cold, snowy day but oh how his strawberry colored hair shown in the brief sunlight. When he was killed we were sent home from school and all felt strongly that this was the beginning of the end of innocence. Indeed it was.

[Samantha Puppy]

I was 14.5 years from being born, but my parents were sophomores in high school when it happened. Every late November, I hear how the world stood still and people were in disbelief.

I'm with lovemyshiba on this one. The first big tragedy I remember was the Challenger explosion. I was in 2nd grade and we were actually watching the launch on tv, so I saw it happen. I can still remember the looks on the teachers faces.

[amoore]

I was at school in the gym playing basket ball .

[slleipnir]

I wasn't alive, obviously lol. I asked my dad though. He said he was 11. My grandfather knew/met JFK. He didn't really 'know' him I guess, but we have a picture downstairs of my grandfather giving a speach of some sort and JFK is there.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

I was in the 7th grade then and in geography class. Our teacher was called from the room. When he came back, we knew something awful had happened. He had such a stunned look on his face. He explained to us, as best he could, what had happened. That was the quietest our class had ever been. It's so sad. The picture of little John John saluting the flag drapped coffin of his father is as clear in my mind as if it was yesterday.

[Corinna]

I was only 2 , I don't remember the announcement but I do remeber the older couple who watched me we cring. In do also remember the furneral too it was the first time I ever saw the riderless horse in the procetion. I guess it impacted me cuz I was in my horse crazy period and some how the empty boots really pulled something out of me. Every time since then when I see it I cry alittle.

[CountryWolf07]

I wasn't born yet.. hehe.. but my parents were kids.. when it happened..

[wolfsoul]

Well, considering my mom was only 9 months old when it happened................

Hehehe :p

[ChrisH]

At that time I was 17 years old and working in a, make that only, hotel in our town. I had just finished work and had gone down to the kitchen (to get and eat the free meal we could have) when the assistant manager came in and told us the news. There was total silence that lasted for what seemed a long time, but in reality I guess was just a few moments, while we all tried to absorb what we had just been told. I just left and walked home, and cried all the way. I am not good with words, the best I can do is to say that my world shifted and shook that day. I think what Laurie wrote is part of how it felt for me too.
".... and all felt strongly that this was the beginning of the end of innocence. Indeed it was."

Chris

[Kirsten]

I wasn't born yet.

Kirsten

[mugsy]

I talked to my sister last night and asked her where she was. She was almost 9 and in 3rd grade. She went to a Catholic school and she said she remembered the announcement and that the nuns just suddenly disappeared and the other teachers herding the kids out of the school to send them home. She said it was kind of an eery saddness. I haven't asked my other sister who would have been 11 and in 5th grade, I'm sure she has a stronger recollection than Bev.

[AmberLee]

Hmmm, I had just turned 9 and was in the fourth grade. For once, I was one of the first in from recess when the loudspeaker started crackling the announcement. We were all stunned and confused. It seems they first announced the shooting and it was hours before they announced his death, but I may be remembering it wrong...