<p>“Wow, can I say that looking at these above, for most I CAN remember the moment.”</p>
<p>I think it means we’re old! ;)</p>
<p>DH & I were in the car driving to my in laws during the OJ car chase, so it must have been on a Friday. It was on the radio. We got to my inlaws just as it almost over. DS was less than a year old so for the next year or so, instead of watching Sesame Street and other educational programs, all that was on our TV was the trial. I was a bad mom. </p>
<p>Nixon’s resignation - was in big dorm lounge with everyone else who was taking summer classes cheering madly. Most of us had spent the two years watching Watergate on TV.</p>
<p>John Lennon - was living in NYC at the time and was out with friends at a bar. Monday Night Football was on and they announced it on air. </p>
<p>I never “got” Elvis. Couldn’t even tell you what decade it was when he died.</p>
<p>JFK I was in Grade 4 and remember clearly the principle coming in and telling us the news, going home in tears even though I am Canadian and this was a Canadian school. We knew that this was a world event and not just local to the US.</p>
<p>Cuban crisis – lived close to a NORAD missile base and remember everyone being edgy but not sure why.</p>
<p>MLK- dont really recall</p>
<p>Bobby Kennedy – remember the event but sure where I was</p>
<p>OJ’s infamous car chase, at home watching TV and they broke in with the hot news item, still laugh at how the slow speed chase was so dramatic</p>
<p>9/11 at work and watching CBC news when the news broke and literally standing there not able to move. Once reality set in the day became very chaotic as I work in in very high profile, high risk location and we started the evacuation notices and procedure in case of a second attack coming here or a copy cat. I think I worked about 5 days in a row with a total of about 8 hours sleep. We knew the world would never be the same again.</p>
<p>Nixons resignation-- again watching the Canadian news channel when they broke in with local coverage</p>
<p>Princess DI – sitting down reading a book and having my neighbor (british) come over and told me to watch the news.</p>
<p>Pope Jean Paul’s visit to the States – happened to be in Washington at the time and ended up with a front row view when his parade started and was within 20 feet of the pope mobile.</p>
<p>HImom’s post triggered a memory of Christmas 2004. We spent it in the Hawaiian Islands staying at different hotels as we island hopped. At one hotel the nightclub was called Club Tsunami with some enticing tag line that escapes me now. (Something to the effect of “get blown away at Club Tsunami”)My kids were fascinated by the word tsunami because they had never seen it before. At the end of our week we were having dinner in the dining room. The hotel’s GM was pressing the flesh and my then 13 year old son told him that in light of Indian Ocean tsunami that had taken place 2 or 3 days ago the hotel really should cover the sign out of respect for the suffering. When dinner was over we passed by the club and the sign had already been removed, replaced with a simply painted sign that said “Nightclub”</p>
<p>Challenger - In an all day training at work, someone told us when we came out for a break.</p>
<p>9/11 - On D1’s sixth grade class bike trip. A teacher came around and told us when she heard at a water break. The parent who drove the lunches to our picnic area had a TV in her car, and we killed her vehicle’s battery watching coverage.</p>
<p>Gabby Giffords shooting - On the TV while standing in line at the bank.</p>
<p>Cuban Missile Crisis- I had just started middle school and it was terrifying being in school and not knowing if you would see your family again.</p>
<p>JFK - I had just started high school and we were changing classes. For some reason a girl had a radio with her and she heard the news. The rest of the afternoon classes were cancelled and we were sent to afternoon homeroom to await dismissal. It was pretty frightening and sad at the same time.</p>
<p>Both MLK, JR and RFK - sophomore year of college. With RFK, just fiinshing up finals and students were still packing up to leave.</p>
<p>Kent State-on strike with many other college students nationwide</p>
<p>John Lennon- getting ready for bed, news alert came on… just remember being totally shocked. </p>
<p>Challenger- at home with baby #1, and we were doing renovation on our house. Carpenter went to get lunch, he came home and told me to put on the TV</p>
<p>Elvis-don’t recall</p>
<p>Princess Di-family vacation in rented condo in NH, packing up to leave</p>
<p>CA earthquake-watching the beginning of the World Series and it became obvious something was going on</p>
<p>9/11- on my way to work, second day of new job. Drove to the office, said that I would be leaving. My mom had specialist appointment that afternoon. NYC highways all sealed off already -drove local streets to get to her, take her to doctor -they called to move up appt as all doctors were being mobilized for mass casualties, drove home to be at home for kids when they got home from school. DH works for FAA, knew I might not see him for days- he had been en route to Philly from NY and was on NJ Turnpike. Even with his credentials, hard to get back to office for him. </p>
<p>My dad recalls hearing about the Pearl Harbor attack - he was doing dishes - and his Dad said, ‘and now it begins’.</p>
<p>JFKennedy - we were sitting in our 2nd grade classroom when our teacher, Miss Kennedy, quietly told us that he had died. Then she wiped away a tear, and one of the kids asked her if she was related to him. She smiled a funny smile and said no. What also sticks with me was the assassination 2 days later of Jack Ruby. That sudden string of killings made me wonder if society was falling apart.</p>
<p>I was home from college on winter break, drying the dishes, when the radio announced that Mayor Daley had died. He’d been mayor forever.</p>
<p>Challenger - was on a bus trip from Vegas to the Grand Canyon, and people were quietly chatting about it. It took us a while to figure out what had happened.</p>
<p>Berlin Wall - boy, I remember that. I am still shocked to think that the Soviet Union could disintegrate and the Wall fall without more mention than it got. I also remember the Gulf War breaking out. I assumed that we would never go to war again as it would lead to a Vietnam style quagmire or a nuclear conflict.</p>
<p>9-11, Husband called and said ‘turn on the TV’. I was on the phone with my Dad as we watched the 2nd tower fell. He hung up right after that.</p>
<p>Colombia - Sis called and said ‘turn on the TV’. It’s a phrase I don’t want to hear often.</p>
<p>I don’t remember the moment of hearing about Princess Di’s death, but I remember her funeral. H and I were at a fly-in salmon fishing resort in British Columbia (won the trip in a contest). There was one TV with satellite. The guys wanted to watch a Michigan State football game, and the women wanted to watch the funeral. We flipped back & forth between both.</p>
<p>I remember learning that kidnapped child Elizabeth Smart had been found. We were watching TV and a “crawler” news alert came across the bottom of the TV screen. It just appeared, and at first we didn’t know if she was found dead or alive until we realized that if she had been dead it would have said “body”. We were so happy to hear the news.</p>
<p>Princess Di’s death: H and I were getting ready for a party when we learned about Princess Di’s accident. Even though there weren’t many details revealed at first, something a reporter said made my H say that she’s already dead but the media isn’t yet releasing that info…maybe because all of her family hadn’t yet been told?? </p>
<p>The Desert Storm beginning: I was pregnant with our second child watching TV when the news came on. It was scary because we had not been at war for awhile and there had been all these warnings of how strong the Iraqi Republican Guard was. Turns out they weren’t a match for the US.</p>
<p>JFK: in kindergarten. I remember a teacher coming into our room crying, to tell my teacher.</p>
<p>Princess Diana: DH couldn’t sleep, was on computer. Woke me up to tell me as he knows I love all things British. Only time he’s woken me up in the middle of the night. Watched TV endlessly for days. I’ll never forget the envelope that read “Mummy” nestled in some flowers atop the coffin nor the dignity with which her young sons walked behind it.</p>
<p>9:11: Had just dropped kids at school. I was at the register at our local bagel store. There is a TV above it. News show was on with story that a plane had hit WTC. By the time I paid, got into my car, and turned on radio, the 2nd plane had struck. Hurried home to find DH half asleep at kitchen table, as he had just gotten home after being up all night on call at hospital where he works. I yelled, “Put on TV!”. After seeing news, DH got back in car to head back to NYC to hospital to assist with incoming injured. Unfortunately, no one
came.</p>
<p>Dad’s WW II memories:
Pearl Harbor: he was shooting hoops in his university’s gym preparing for a big game when someone came in to tell him. A few months later, like many of his teammates, he enlisted.
Japanese surrender: he was on a troop ship ostensibly headed for Japan. Although as an engineering student, he had been a technical specialist in the European theater, on that ship, he was a just warm body–no slide rule necessary–en route for what he and his fellow soldiers were told would be a massive invasion. The horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were felt only in retrospect.</p>
<p>My own memories:
JFK: I was in a world history class when the principal’s voice came over the intercom. “The President has been shot.” he said. Our teacher told us to put our heads down on our desks. There was dead silence: no tears, no whispers, just shock. The bell rang, but no one got up to change classes. Some time later came the announcement that JFK had died.
9/11: I was a mile into my morning commute when I turned on NPR and heard a report about the initial “accident.” Then came the news of the second plane. “Pearl Harbor,” I thought. I turned back, went home, woke my husband, who had spent most of the night working on a presentation, and told him. It never occurred to either of us to pick up our son at his elementary school, ten blocks away. We had faith, somehow, that he would be safe at school, and that the school would act wisely in what they revealed to the students.</p>
<p>Michael Jackson: I had just finished a doctor’s appointment in Westwood. There is a really good pizza place (Lamonica’s) nearby and I thought about buying one to take home. Decided against it and began the drive home. I just passed the signal at the entrance to UCLA’s emergency room. I looked in my rear view mirror and I say lots of police alarms blaring. The light turned green (on Hilgard) and I went on my way home.</p>
<p>Traffic was delayed all afternoon. I got out just in time.</p>
<p>“What a world we live in.” I think that we are extremely lucky. There are places in this world where major tragedies are a fact of everyday life. I remember…and saddened by memories…but while I remember most of these events they are a handful in a life of 50 plus years.</p>
<p>JFK - Second grade. We were watching a filmstrip when the teacher came in and told us, and asked us to pray for him. My brother was born the day of the funeral.</p>
<p>9/11 - I was heading to work after my son’s first IEP meeting when news of the first plane came over the radio. I got to work just in time to see the second plane on TV. The worst part was when the Pentagon was hit. I worked for an Army command on the eighth floor of a high-rise, and we could see the smoke from the Pentagon out the window. My co-worker was freaking out because her husband worked in the Pentagon (he turned out to be okay). I later found out that my ex was standing in front of the Pentagon waiting for the shuttle to the Navy Annex when the plane hit.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>JFK - lived overseas (plus was kind of young) so I only heard about it after the fact from grownups and, frankly, didn’t much care… </p></li>
<li><p>Shuttle - A relative called from Germany after seeing it happen on TV; the launch was televised life there. </p></li>
<li><p>9/11 - This time, like millions others, I myself watched it unfold on live TV. Had the day off work, the Today show was on as I was getting ready for a doctor’s appointment. (My then-7 year old son saw a couple, holding hands, jump off one of the towers.) We will never forget that mixture of disbelief and horror we experienced that day.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>mom2collegekids, the media didn’t release news of Diana’s death immediately after the crash for the simple reason that she hadn’t died yet. Time of death was about 3 hours later, and at that point she’d been taken to the hospital.</p>
<p>JFK–In 10th grade biology class in Houston. The Kennedys had attended a big dinner the night before, and my parents were there. My father was a newspaper editor and didn’t come home for days, it seemed. In class and for the rest of the day, there was quiet weeping everywhere. But in my last class of the day, the girl sitting next to me said she didn’t like him anyway. I wanted to be sick.</p>
<p>Martin Luther King–In college, stunned, I wondered if we’d ever get past the horror of racism. My mother called from home in Washington to describe the city on fire. </p>
<p>Challenger–Having a meeting and coffee with colleagues. There was a television, and we were just speechless.</p>
<p>9/11–On the way to physical therapy, I heard someone on the radio say there had been an “accident” at the World Trade Center. As the story began to unfold, I got back in the car and drove to get my son at school three blocks from the Capitol, thinking all the way there that I would see the dome in flames. At home, six blocks from the Capitol, we heard fighter planes in the air. Finally, it was confirmed that the last unaccounted-for plane had crashed in Pennsylvania. Some of that day is a blur, but I have never felt such deep fear. From across the river, My son had seen the sudden ball of smoke from the impact when the plane hit the Pentagon.</p>
</p>