<p>Reagan being shot - was in early elementary school</p>
<p>Challenger disaster - was in MS and saw in replayed over and over</p>
<p>9/11 - had just dropped off my youngest at preschool and was on a street in Arlington as first responders streamed past and knew instinctively they were heading to the Pentagon</p>
<p>I was on the inner loop of 495 (DC area) when I heard the news Princess Diana had been killed.</p>
<p>It is odd which ones stand out when others don’t.</p>
<p>JFK: I was in 1st grade, and our school bus was stopped at a light. A cab driver leaned out his window and yelled over to the bus driver to ask if he had heard about Kennedy. I apparently came home and said to my parents “the president has been shot”, although I’m sure I didn’t know what that meant.</p>
<p>Challenger: I was in a cab, on a business trip in NYC, and heard the news over the radio.</p>
<p>9/11: Got to work (Philadelphia suburbs) just after the first plane hit, and a colleague said “a plane flew into the WTC!” So of course I pictured a small plane. Folks were gathered in our conference room, and as I walked in the second plane hit. I ran up to my office to call my mother, who lived in Manhattan - she didn’t know what had happened yet. Went back to the conference room, and saw the news about the Pentagon. That’s when I called H, who also didn’t know, and told him I was getting the kids from school; shortly afterwards everyone who worked in a tall building in Philly was told by the mayor to go home, so we were all together for the rest of that horrifying day.</p>
<p>My mother liked to tell the story of being alone in the United Press International office when the news came that FDR had died. She immediately turned on the teletype bells (that alerted the other offices) and began typing FDR DEAD FDR DEAD over and and over until she could be sure everyone had checked in. Then she continued typing the story.</p>
<p>1994 Northridge earthquake - shaken awake at 4:30 am. A bookcase fell on the bed where my daughter was sleeping just missing her. </p>
<p>LA Riots - I was caught in the middle of rooters and looters on Hollywood Boulevard. I just kept driving and kept my head low. </p>
<p>The fall of the Berlin Wall - I was coming home from San Diego and I remember crying tears of joy for those poor people who were suddenly free after so many years of being trapped behind that wall.</p>
<p>I remember when the Berlin Wall fell. I had an infant and thought that he might live in a better, freer world. At the time I had no idea how things were in many of the countries that we now read about in the news every day.</p>
<p>11/22/63 - I was in fourth grade. The school intercom came on - just a squib from a newscast to the extent of “the President has been shot,” no announcement from the principal. Then the intercom abruptly shut off. We stared at the teacher and she stared back at us, then raced out of the room and came back in to tell us that the President was in the hospital and that we should pray for him. Several minutes later, the principal made the announcement that JFK had died.</p>
<p>Challenger explosion - I was at home with my oldest daughter, who was a baby at the time. My husband called me from work to tell me to put the television on.</p>
<p>9/11 - a neighbor and I took a walk that morning. For some reason, I didn’t put the TV on when I came in to get ready for work. On my drive in, the radio announcer said something like, “we’ll be back with more news of today’s events,” and then played some somber classical music. When I got to work, I saw people crying and embracing in the hallway, and I asked my boss what was happening.</p>
<p>Cuban Missile Crisis - I remember my friends and I stood at the school bus stop glancing up at the sky and looking for Russian missiles. We had a drill in class and were told to hide underneath our seats. I remember poking my head out and looking for Russian missiles.</p>
<p>JFK Assassination - When school let up I went outside and walked to my school bus. All the upper classmen were in the parking lot shouting and screaming and I didn’t know why. I sat down in my seat in the bus, and listened to the radio announcer tell the nation about the tragedy. </p>
<p>Reagan Shooting - I was home sick with the flu. I saw the slow motion replays over and over again.</p>
<p>Challenger Explosion - I was home sick with the flu. I watched it explode about a 100 times that day.</p>
<p>9/11 - One of our supervisors at work had CNN on and all of us watched the first plane strike. Later we returned to watch the second plane hit the tower, and then the twin towers fall to the ground. A week later a co-worker called me on the phone from an airport and told me she was one of only three people in the entire terminal waiting for the next flight. She was frightened and I tried to calm her down while she waited.</p>
<p>JFK - was less than a year old so no memories.</p>
<p>Challenger Explosion - was at work - someone hooked up a TV so we could watch.</p>
<p>9/11 - was still in bed (we’re on the west coast). DH was up watching CNBC and I remember him shouting. I was up watching TV from that moment on.</p>
<p>JFK: I was in third grade and the principal announced over the intercom that the president had been shot. Later she made a second announcement that he had died. I remember sitting at my desk in stunned silence and being very scared.</p>
<p>Challenger: We had moved from 4 states away the previous day. H was at his new job. I was in the new house, 7 months pregnant, unpacking boxes. I knew no one and I was scared.</p>
<p>9/11: I was at work and a colleague, who had stayed home to attend a funeral, called in to tell us the news. We all huddled around a radio in disbelief. Later we went into the auditorium where we watched the towers fall on the giant screen. H was in the air that day and I didn’t hear from him for several hours. I was scared.</p>
<p>I do remember the Cuban Crisis: The headline of the LA Times was “Capitol Cloaks Up.” We “knew” that we could die. We had an emergency drill. The bells rang and we all had to run home. I guess that the thought process was that we should die at home. We ran through the alleys (probably more danger there than staying at school) and got home fast.</p>
<p>I mentioned to my parents something about being at home alone and dying alone. My father, God bless him, said, “Well, you are born alone and you die alone. Too bad” I was 8 or 9.</p>
<p>Elvis Death: on an “out west trip” with my family. A woman came into the rest stop wailing that “The King is Dead”. I had never heard him called that (the King was Richard Petty to me). I remember she had the tallest hair I had ever seen so always relate bouffants with Elvis. </p>
<p>Reagan Assassination Attempt: Home sick from school watching television. I felt so alone for some reason. </p>
<p>Challenger-Watching with my classmates in a science lab. We had come for a party to celebrate the accomplishment. </p>
<p>OK City Bombing-I was in the break room at work with NPR on. I almost fainted, as one of my friends worked there. It was confirmed later that she did not make it. It still cuts me to the core. </p>
<p>LA Riots-ended up at a bar in SF since the City had imposed a curfew. Met my husband that night. </p>
<p>9/11-getting ready for work, with Today show on the air. I remember walking DS to school and the teachers were letting the kids play outside even though the bell had rung. I went to work in a daze.</p>
<p>JFK – School had just let out, and some kid came running down the hallway, yelling “The president’s been shot!” I remember not wanting to believe it, so I ran home and found my mom standing transfixed in front of the TV. My most vivid memory of that weekend, though, is the funeral procession, which I watched sitting on my father’s lap. I was haunted by the riderless horse with the boots turned backward. </p>
<p>9/11 – I was sitting on the couch, drinking coffee and trying to get my eyelids open (it was 6 a.m. out here). DH, who was getting ready for work, came in and said, “You’d better turn on the TV. You’re not going to believe this.” Then came the problem of what to tell D, who was in 4th grade, and how much to let her see. She was leaving for school in an hour, and I knew people would be talking about it there, so we had to tell her something. But we knew so little at that point and it was so terrifying. Her first two questions were “Will I be safe at school?” and “Why would the pilot do that?” I had errands to run that morning, and everyplace I went was deserted. I was the only customer in the bank, and all the employees were huddled around a TV, like most of the world. </p>
<p>Princess Diana – I caught the early news that there’d been an accident, but at first dismissed the idea that it was serious. But as the hours dragged on and then they brought the car out of the tunnel, I knew she likely wouldn’t survive. A week later, I stayed up all night to watch her funeral, just as I had done to watch her wedding 15 years earlier.</p>
<p>Can’t remember anything about JFK’s assassination, though my sister who is 3 years older remembers it vividly. I was about 7 at the time.</p>
<p>When the Oklahoma City bombing happened, H & I were in Europe on a 2nd honeymoon and H felt compelled to get and read a newspaper. It was the first thing he saw on the paper and made me glad it was near the end of our vacation. Nothing was the same.</p>
<p>9/11, we were home in bed when H got a call from his office telling him to turn on the TV immediately (right after the 1st plane struck the 1st building). He waited for further telephone instructions from his workplace, glued to the TV.</p>
<p>Remember watching the tsunami enveloping Japan on TV and evacuating our home as a precaution. It was very sad and scary–so many ties between HI & Japan.</p>
<p>I wasn’t born when Kennedy was killed. I was 3 when MLK was killed and living in Memphis. I have a memory of tanks going down the street, but really don’t think it is a “real” memory. </p>
<p>I was in college when the Challenger exploded.</p>
<p>I was home, after dropping off two children at school, on Sept 11. We had out of town company who was to leave the next day and was stuck for several extra days.</p>
<p>JFK assassination: I was in school, in 5th grade. Our teacher took us into an adjoining classroom, where they had been watching one of those “educational” TVs that came in a very tall cabinet.</p>
<p>MLK: I was in Rome with my parents</p>
<p>Challenger: I happened to be in the mail room at work, where the mail guy was watching a little tv.</p>
<p>John Lennon: I came in to work in the morning and found everyone talking about it. The moment when we all realized that The Beatles would never be getting back together.</p>
<p>9/11: I was at home and sat down at my computer to check email, etc. Immediately turned it off and went downstairs to the TV, where I remained in my nightgown until the afternoon, when I got dressed, drove to S’s school, and looked at him through the classroom door. Then I could go home.</p>
<p>JFK - don’t remember the shooting - my first memory was the one year anniversary and I was in kindergarten and we had a special assembly.</p>
<p>Challenger - I was director of a preschool/daycare program at a Catholic school and I heard about it through the elementary school during our day.</p>
<p>9/11 - I was working part time and was home that day with my youngest who was 2ish - my husband called and told me I better call and check on my brother who worked in mid-town - fortunately he had a newborn and was working from home that day - he stood on his brownstone roof in Brooklyn cradling his new son and watching the smoke rise from the city. :(</p>
<p>Elvis - ha - not a fan, but I clearly remember I was working then scooping ice cream (high school I believe) and a customer came in and told me - they got a free extra scoop on their cone. :)</p>
<p>Wow, can I say that looking at these above, for most I CAN remember the moment. Striking. </p>
<p>I’ll add another - the OJ Simpson car chase ( I know, not hugely important, but memorable!) - for some reason I remember that so clearly. I was home and doing/folding laundry through it.</p>
<p>9/11: I was in a patient’s room preparing to start an IV when the second plane hit. At that moment we all realized what this was really all about. I remember trying to steady my trembling hand while I started the IV-everyone in the patient’s room was freaking out and it was all I could do to remain calm myself.</p>