58 years ago today...

[Road Runner]

I was on a bus with members of my high school band.  We had just arrived at a drop-off location to participate in the homecoming parade for another local high school.  But something was wrong.  Instead of exiting, we were being kept on the bus while Mr Dill, our band director, was involved in discussions with other people in the parade area.  Finally, he returned to our bus and announced that the parade and the subsequent football game had been canceled.  He then said simply, "President Kennedy has been shot".  No more details were known or spoken of at that moment.  When we arrived back at our own school to prepare to go home, we were told that the President had died.  Many of the female members of the band wept aloud and uncontrollably.  I walked home alone.  Up to that point (I was just 15 years old), it was, by far, the worst day of my life. 

The innocence of the 50's and early 60's was over.    

 

[AirwickWithCheese]

Hug is because I worship you.  

Painful, but beautiful memory.  Thank you

[jsharr ★]

You forgot to blame Texas for our role in this tragedy.

[AirwickWithCheese]

7 minutes ago, jsharr said:

You forgot to blame Texas for our role in this tragedy.

Actually,  Texas was his only hope that tragedy might be prevented.  

Divine providence.  

[Road Runner]

The 22nd of November is etched in my brain even deeper than my own birthday.  This day never passes that I don't vividly recall it, and the anguish and despair that everyone felt for our leader and our country.  

[Longjohn ★]

And the mystery of the grassy knoll.

[Parsnip Totin Jack ★]

Sad event in our history. I don’t remember hearing the news; I was two and a half. My sister Nancy, was one, and the twins had just been born in October.

[Razors Edge ★]

2 minutes ago, Old No. 7 said:

Sad event in our history. I don’t remember hearing the news; I was two and a half. My sister Nancy, was one, and the twins had just been born in October.

Makes me sad to think that a similar event occurring over the past decade or so would be met with quite a different reaction from a portion of the populace.  

[Rattlecan ★]

I remember it well. I know it was a Friday, because that was the day the boys got to do shop stuff in the school basement. I think I was building a birdhouse or something, when we were interrupted and told to come upstairs.

 Our two room school did not have a telephone, but someone had come to the school to break the news.

 I remember everyone gathered in the foyer listening to the radio. That was when we got the news that he had died.

I was 10 years old.

[Kzoo]

One of those times you remember where you were.  I was 8 yo.  I was home sick from school, laying on the couch.  My mom was out back hanging laundry when the breaking news came on TV.  She came inside and I told her that the president had been shot.  She thought I was making up stories...

[Road Runner]

I sometimes think about how morally different our country seems today than it was in 1963.  Many members of my family and my neighbors were staunch Republicans.  But everyone I knew, left or right, felt and expressed terrible sadness about the events of Nov 22.  If something similar were to occur today, I'm afraid that a large minority of people would be celebrating and laughing it up.  Especially on the internet. 

[sheep_herder ★]

15 minutes ago, Road Runner said:

I sometimes think about how morally different our country seems today than it was in 1963.  Many members of my family and my neighbors were staunch Republicans.  But everyone I knew, left or right, felt and expressed terrible sadness about the events of Nov 22.  If something similar were to occur today, I'm afraid that a large minority of people would be celebrating and laughing it up.  Especially on the internet. 

Not saying you are wrong, but you made two very important points: (1) You reference only your local area. and (2) You allude to the impact of the internet.

I was studying in the forestry library at Colorado State University when the event occurred.

[maddmaxx ★]

2 hours ago, Road Runner said:

I was on a bus with members of my high school band.  We had just arrived at a drop-off location to participate in the homecoming parade for another local high school.  But something was wrong.  Instead of exiting, we were being kept on the bus while Mr Dill, our band director, was involved in discussions with other people in the parade area.  Finally, he returned to our bus and announced that the parade and the subsequent football game had been canceled.  He then said simply, "President Kennedy has been shot".  No more details were known or spoken of at that moment.  When we arrived back at our own school to prepare to go home, we were told that the President had died.  Many of the female members of the band wept aloud and uncontrollably.  I walked home alone.  Up to that point (I was just 15 years old), it was, by far, the worst day of my life. 

The innocence of the 50's and early 60's was over.    

 

I remember that day as we were on a bus to a basketball game at another high school.  After talking it over for a while they decided to play the game in an empty gym.

[petitepedal ★]

I was 5...I remember TV images but I am not sure if they are from the multiple times over the years it was replayed..Walter Cronkite..Our TV was black and white (until 1970 or 71 )

What I do remember is being upset that Captain Kangaroo was replaced by a boring funeral...because at 5 we have priorities.

[ChrisL]

3 hours ago, Longjohn said:

And the mystery of the grassy knoll.

I visited the site and while surveying Delaney Plaza that’s where I would have set up.  Now 58 years ago the lay out was surely different but I’d rather shoot at a target coming at me at my level than down & away at a target moving away from me…. The grassy knoll would have an been ideal perch for an assassin/sniper.  

[Digital_photog ★]

I was 13 years old.  They called the whole school to the gym to announce it.

 

[Wilbur ★]

This is exactly why the POTUS must be protected.  It isn't that the country can't run without one.  That has been proven.  It steals the morale and pride of a nation.  

[Rattlecan ★]

I have seen the limousine he was riding in up close at the Henry Ford Museum. If the decision had not been made to remove the armored  top that day, history would be much different.

 The glass was about 2 inches thick I think. 

[groupw]

I was 19 months old. I have no memory of it firsthand. 

[maddmaxx ★]

29 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

This is exactly why the POTUS must be protected.  It isn't that the country can't run without one.  That has been proven.  It steals the morale and pride of a nation.  

IMO that day 58 years ago might have been the beginning of the end.

[Square Wheels]

I was in utero.