topic Re: November 22, 1963 in Community Chat

November 22, 1963

luvmybeetle — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 17:53:37 GMT

For those of you around in 1963. Do you remember what you were doing or where you were when JFK was assassinated?

Re: November 22, 1963

Havarti — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 17:54:37 GMT

I was in typing class. Everything came to a sudden halt...it was like time stood still and also like the entire country was united as one in stunned shock & grief. It is permanently etched in my mind forever. Hard to believe it was so long ago.

Re: November 22, 1963

redwingsgal — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 17:55:01 GMT

I remember sitting in my high chair and worrying that the Russians were going to come and take over the US, even though I had no idea what that really meant!!

Re: November 22, 1963

Meowingkitty — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 17:56:33 GMT

I was in third grade and we came back from lunch our teacher told us what happened and sent us home. Really didn't understand it all that much back then.

Re: November 22, 1963

Kachina624 — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 17:58:19 GMT

I had just graduated from college in August and was working at Lit Bros.Department Store in suburban Philly prior to being sworn into the USAF. We heard the news on one of the TVs on the floor.

Re: November 22, 1963

this is my nic — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:01:57 GMT

In my mind, I recall being in the first class after lunch when we were told about President Kennedy being assasinated. But we were on the east coast and actually it would have been around 2:00 PM.

Anyway, our teacher for that class was a jokster and when he said the president was shot, we thought he was kidding. Bad joke, but we couldn't imagine it was true. Soon other teachers came into the classroom in tears and we knew it was real.

I remember sitting in front of our tv with my dad that entire weekend including Monday when the funeral took place. I cried nonstop and when little John John saluted, my dad burst into tears.

Those of us who are old enough to remember that day will never forget.

Re: November 22, 1963

candyagain — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:02:22 GMT

I was in my junior year French class. The Mother Superior came to each classroom to give us the news. The anouncement for the whole school came over the intercom after that. The nun teaching the class -- a petite usually happy soul -- dissolved totally in tears and, of course, we all started to cry as well.

We were a military family living in the DC area at the time. My parents and the two oldest boys went to the rotunda to view the president's casket. I stayed home to babysit the two youngest and watched on TV. It was a grey day and it seemed as if the whole world was in mourning.

The funeral was on a sunny day and we watched it on TV. My mother and I were watching tv news coverage when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald in real time. No 30-second delay then. I remember that the broadcast was in black & white.

Re: November 22, 1963

wonderfulworld — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:03:51 GMT

Was in a Catholic grader school. They took us to Church to pray. We had the day of the funeral off from school. Seems like the world has slid downhill in so many ways since then. We were so innocent and felt so safe all the time.

So different from the youth of today.

Re: November 22, 1963

nana59 — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:05:28 GMT

i was in 8th grade collecting milk money......

Re: November 22, 1963

QVCkitty1 — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:06:18 GMT

I was in French class when it was announced over the PA that he'd been shot. Before school was out that day, we knew he was dead. I was crushed. Walking home that day, it was so quiet.

Re: November 22, 1963

golding76 — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:06:20 GMT

Can never, ever forget.

I was in my English Novel class when the world suddenly stood still. Most classrooms were equipped with television sets for the occasional telly instructor (not so with the English Novel class) when the terrible news began to spread across campus.

Televisions went on and we were emotionally destroyed but transfixed.

A couple hours ago I thought about the day and following events and how young I was at that time, how much stamina I had. Along with thousands of others, I stood in line for hours in order to pay my respects to John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who was lying in state at the U.S. Capitol. So many of us loved the Kennedys; they were youthful demi-gods to us (we were innocent).

There were so many people queued up to pass the casket that among all of them, I ran into an old high school friend. (Of course, I was originally from the D.C. area and so the accidental meeting was not all that far-fetched.)

Re: November 22, 1963

LonestarBabs — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:08:00 GMT

I was five years old. I don't remember too much about that specific day, but I do remember everything was very sad and dark everywhere for days. People were crying in the stores, seems like everything became very still and quiet. I remember all the television coverage in black and white. I remember huge black headlines in the newspaper as my Dad and I searched the newsrack at the grocery store. The newspapers were on the bottom shelf and that was close to me!

I live in Dallas. No mention of that day anymore around here - it seemed to end with the 50th anniversary. When key figures die -- like Jim Lavelle or any of the attending physicians -- there is brief mention of historical context regarding their passing.

Re: November 22, 1963

Mz iMac — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:08:50 GMT

At my high school pep rally.

@Kachina624 I miss Center City's Lit Brothers. It was my go to department store. Plan B Gimbles.

Re: November 22, 1963

I am still oxox — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:11:36 GMT

I was 8 years and home sick and very sad that I would not be able to attend my Girl Scout fly up which was of course moved to a few weeks later

Re: November 22, 1963

Group 5 minus 1 — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:16:03 GMT

Mom was visiting. Someone called to tell us. It was also Daddy's birthday. After that day he said he never wanted to celebrate it again.

Re: November 22, 1963

skatting44 — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:16:46 GMT

Yes, I do. I was in grade school .The Nuns came in our class and were crying . we all started crying as we did not understand what was happening. We were all put on buses and sent back home. My Mother was home and she was watching the news and told us what happened. I have not forgotten watching the funeral and my Mother crying while we watched TV .

Re: November 22, 1963

Group 5 minus 1 — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:18:02 GMT

Thank you for asking about this.

Re: November 22, 1963

sashamatthews — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:20:48 GMT

I was in school - eight-years-old. I remember two of the older boys coming into the classroom (we had a three room school) with a transistor radio with the news. Then, one of the boys came in and said the President had died. It feels like yesterday.

Re: November 22, 1963

geezerette — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:32:01 GMT

I was in school, too. And it was also a Friday. I remember the principal coming into my class and whispering with the teacher and the look of disbelief on her face. The teacher looked up, motioned to me to come up. She handed me a handwritten note and told me to take it to each and every teacher in each classroom. That was strange.

I did as instructed and in each class the teacher inevitably looked at me and asked if it was true. No one had said anything to me (or any of the other students). So, as I went around I tried to decipher the note, which was hastily written and almost illegible. I finally figured out it said that the president had been shot. And it didn't register with me. The president of what? Nothing like this had ever happened before.

Shortly after I got back to my own classroom, another note appeared. This time it was only one short sentence and I could figure out quickly what it said. When this one went around many of the teachers started to cry. By the time I got back to my classroom this time around, my teacher had informed the rest of the class that the president had passed.

I remember running home to my mother, shaken. She had been grocery shopping and the PA system had broken in with the news.

Re: November 22, 1963

golding76 — Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:26:43 GMT

An aside, but I cannot imagine what this must have been like:

Also on November 22, 1963, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was moving into its new headquarters building at 800 Independence Ave., S.W., where they are located to this day.

I cannot imagine the alarm or the confusion that followed. The agency went ahead with the scheduled move but it must have been an emotionally overwhelming day for the FAA employees in so many respects. Najeeb Halaby was the FAA Administrator at that time.