61 Years Ago Today - Page 5

Estellee · ‎07-12-2011

I remember very well where I was, even at a young age I havn't forgotten.

Group 5 minus 1 · ‎03-11-2010

Hubbs says every generation has memories that remain forever in our minds and this is our generations.

LTT1 · ‎03-09-2010

@Shelbelle @Group 5 minus 1 @Estellee @branny @Lilysmom1

I was in 6th grade in Royal Oak Michigan at my most favorite school ever in my most favorite house ever. My bedroom had a balcony off it! WOW did I love that.

My teacher (my most favorite teacher ever, Mrs. Schecter, went out in the hallway, closing the classroom door after her.

I could see her out there through the narrow window. It looked as if she was about to faint as she seemed to need the wall of lockers to hold herself up.

She came back into the classroom and told all of us in a very somber tone that the President had been shot. We were all told to go home right then.

I walked home... the neighborhood was very still and so quiet, as if predicting gloom and doom. That is how it felt.

I had to ask myself why this seemed so significant? My teacher was about to cry... cannot remember if it was then or after I got back home that this event heralded a new, more cruel time in American history; a time when Presidents could be shot, boys would be sent off to war, people would stage sit-ins and protests and the Beatles would bring England to America.

I remember asking my parents that night

"What's the big deal?"

Is something wrong with a child who asks her parents a question like that? I don't know really.

Politics was just not part of my world at this point in my life.

~Have a Kind Heart, Fierce Mind, Brave Spirit~

Shelbelle · ‎03-09-2010

@LTT1 wrote:
@Shelbelle @Group 5 minus 1 @Estellee @branny @Lilysmom1

I was in 6th grade in Royal Oak Michigan at my most favorite school ever in my most favorite house ever. My bedroom had a balcony off it! WOW did I love that.
My teacher (my most favorite teacher ever, Mrs. Schecter, went out in the hallway, closing the classroom door after her.
I could see her out there through the narrow window. It looked as if she was about to faint as she seemed to need the wall of lockers to hold herself up.
She came back into the classroom and told all of us in a very somber tone that the President had been shot. We were all told to go home right then.
I walked home... the neighborhood was very still and so quiet, as if predicting gloom and doom. That is how it felt.

I had to ask myself why this seemed so significant? My teacher was about to cry... cannot remember if it was then or after I got back home that this event heralded a new, more cruel time in American history; a time when Presidents could be shot, boys would be sent off to war, people would stage sit-ins and protests and the Beatles would bring England to America.

I remember asking my parents that night
"What's the big deal?"
Is something wrong with a child who asks her parents a question like that? I don't know really.
Politics was just not part of my world at this point in my life.

You and I are same age, I was also in 6th grade at that time. I think your reaction was perfectly normal, it is hard for an 11 year old to understand death, we just knew it was a horribly sad day for our country. My Mom adored JFK, she kept a pix of him hanging in our foyer.

JoyFilled Warrior · ‎09-02-2022

Hi @LTT1

Wonderfully heartfelt & poetic.

You reached down into my soul. Thank you.

Esp since it's so difficult for many of us to express all our feelings abt that day, & thereafter.

"Don’t forget to be kind to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!" TLB

Sapphiregal · ‎04-08-2019

I was 13 and lived in Dallas. My Dad, who was a purchasing agent for a hotel on Stemmons Freeway, saw the motorcade and police cars with lights flashing fly by on it's way to Parkland Hospital. He knew something bad had happened. Will always remember that day!

Dogs are God's most perfect creatures. Angels here on earth to teach us to be better humans.

LTT1 · ‎03-09-2010

@JoyFilled Warrior @Shelbelle @Sapphiregal @Group 5 minus 1 @Estellee

Thank you for commenting on my post.

Putting oneself back in that era is nostalgic and this is a memory I rarely visit in such detail.

Very sad how it changed the course of history.

What is heartening is that all of the citizens of the USA experienced this occasion in history which is one of the tragedies that we all share.

~Have a Kind Heart, Fierce Mind, Brave Spirit~

vermint · ‎04-05-2010

I was sitting in my third-grade classroom when the principal came in to announce the President's death. Some of the kids gasped & started to cry, I wasn't one of them. I'm not sure I even knew the president's name before that day.

Our teacher held it together til we were almost out of the room, but I looked back and saw her cover her face with her hands and start to sob. It was the first time I ever saw a teacher cry.

KatieB · ‎03-10-2010

I was 12 years old and school let out early. That's the first thing my Mama said to me when I walked in the door. It brings tears to my eyes.

spiderw · ‎06-14-2010

I remember this tragedy like it was yesterday. I was so sad and broken hearted, what a loss for this country, I felt the same when his brother, Robert and Martin Luther King were murdered. Such sadness.