61 years ago today President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. I was a freshman in high school. I almost forgot the date, but I saw something on the internet this morning.
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I’m quite sure most people of my generation remember exactly where they were when they heard the news of JFK’s death.
This is indeed a very somber day in our history.
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I was in second grade and home that day (I was sick). I remember the special bulletins interrupting the program my mom was watching. Such a sad day.
I was in first grade and I remember the teacher telling us what had happened and then dismissing us. It was a different age and most of us had stay at home moms who would be waiting for us. Very few bus riders at my school. I just had to walk about 3 blocks home. 50 years later I was a reading pal for a number of years at my former elementary school. I would read with my student and then we would go to the cafeteria for lunch and I found myself standing in the hallway looking at the door to my first grade classroom and thinking that it was very unusual for me to be almost in the exact same place 50 years later.
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Third grade, in parochial school. They broadcast the news on the PA so the nuns could be informed. We understood JFK had been shot but didn’t understand what a motorcade was, so we had visions of cowboys shooting him (Dallas Texas, wild west, stupid kids, etc.)
When our chatter prevented Sister Daniel from hearing an update she told us the deep baritone announcer voice we were hearing was the Voice of God—not a peep for the rest of the day
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A then-second grader here also. Our class was standing at our desks waiting for dismissal from school, when our teacher announced that the president had been shot, and I remember thinking, “Well, that’s a dumb thing to do!”
I also remember watching JFK’s funeral on television with my mother.
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I was a baby, so no way to remember.
I do live in Dallas, and once while hosting our nephew from NYC, was embarrassed to say no when he asked if I’d ever been to the Sixth Floor Museum. The two of us visited it that very day.
I was in 2nd grade and remember that suddenly the intercom in the classroom came on tuned to the radio and we all heard the news.
Many years later I was in Dallas over a weekend on a business trip. I told my much younger colleague that I had visited the Texas School Book Depository and the museum there and she replied “I suppose all those old books were interesting” . !!Not a clue.
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This is very similar to my experience. Friday afternoon-we were just about to start art class when Mother Superior came over the PA system to tell us that a parent had called to the school to say JFK had been shot. 3rd grade nun turned on the classroom TV and had us kneel on the floor to pray and watch the news. I was really bummed we weren’t going to have art that day.The second announcement from Mother Superior was simply “The president has died. Please go home.” When I got home, my mother was ironing and watching TV. I think the TV stayed on the entire weekend.
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I was in 7th grade…and it was the second to last period of the day. We were not dismissed early, but there was no school the following day at least.
When we went to Dallas with our kids who were middle and high school, we did go to the museum. It was so well curated, and really captured what they knew about that very sad day. I would say…it’s a must see.
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5th grade. On a class trip and heard the teachers whispering about it in the front of rhe bus. My brother is 3 years older. Hence started to write assassination on the blackboard but got only the first few letters written when they were all dismissed. When they returned to school a few days later it was still there. The kids appreciated the laugh during the somber time.
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I was not born yet.
There is a great documentary on Disney plus.
I highly recommend.
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I was in 7th grade–the nuns sent us home once they heard what had happened. At home, we watched tv the entire weekend, which was strange because my Mom was really strict about what we were able to watch and the tv was never on for that long.
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I was in 1st grade, so don’t have a great memory of the class announcement, but do remember sitting in the library watching the funeral (at least I think it was the funeral) on television.
What memory is forever etched into my mind was what happened at home. We had a housekeeper who locked herself into a small guestroom. She was distraught hearing the news; my mother could not get her to come out. Mom called dad at work, and after trying to talk her out, he kicked the door down! Instead of sending her home on the bus, dad drove her home to make sure she got home safely.
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It was a terrible day in our history. I was in 10th grade. It was the first time I had encountered – or, at least, been aware of – the fact that something that horrible could happen.
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