November 22, 1963

[NorCalcLion]

It was mild November Friday afternoon on campus. I was walking between classes between the old Electrical Engineering Building and Hammond, with my thoughts on going to Pittsburgh for the Penn State Pitt game at the end of the day.

I was suddenly aware that many students were walking along with transistor radios next to their ears.
My first thought was what is going on , the World Series was last month. I ran into a guy from my freshman dorm floor . Someone who I hadn't given much thought since my freshman year but who I now remember forever. I said what is going on ? He said the President has been shot.

A day and happening that is ingrained in my mind as any sporting event I've ever followed.
Obviously , more impactful than Maz's home run or the immaculate reception.

 

[Rip_E_2_Joe_PA]

Perspective

 

[royboy]

..in Social Studies class in 8th grade. Word came over the P.A. -- shock

and then a weekend in front of the TV, which included the additional shock of the assassin himself being shot and killed.

 

[step.eng69]

High School in Political Science class. Funny how extreme events can be etched in our minds 53 years later. Sort of like being bung holed by JerBer in the showers 1973-1976. I seriously believe I would have remembered some of the details to the event as to where the incident happened.

 

[step.eng69]

..in Social Studies class in 8th grade. Word came over the P.A. -- shock

and then a weekend in front of the TV, which included the additional shock of the assassin himself being shot and killed.

I can repeat the chronicle of your post royboy

 

[NC2017]

It was mild November Friday afternoon on campus. I was walking between classes between the old Electrical Engineering Building and Hammond, with my thoughts on going to Pittsburgh for the Penn State Pitt game at the end of the day.

I was suddenly aware that many students were walking along with transistor radios next to their ears.
My first thought was what is going on , the World Series was last month. I ran into a guy from my freshman dorm floor . Someone who I hadn't given much thought since my freshman year but who I now remember forever. I said what is going on ? He said the President has been shot.

A day and happening that is ingrained in my mind as any sporting event I've ever followed.
Obviously , more impactful than Maz's home run or the immaculate reception.

I was a Soph in HS in Brooklyn when the news hit. School was dismissed and a bunch of us stood outside a TV store and watched the live Dallas telecast in semi shock. I didn't believe the official story then and I don't believe it now.

 

[Ten Thousan Marbles]

Second grade at Our Lady of Peace elementary in Erie PA.

Heard over the PA. We prayed and then went home early.

My Dad was working out of a basement office that day. He took me to the barber shop, which was an interesting place to be. People kept coming in to ask what was happening and to look at the black and white TV.

For Oswald's murder, I can remember the grated cheese on the rigatonis sitting on the plate in front of me as my Dad stepped back into the dining area and said: "He's been shot." The first, and only, time we were allowed to get up from the dinner table to look at the TV.
......


Edit: As I said, our teacher (a nun) got us to praying, and then we went home.

I think something similar happened to plenty of school kids all over.

But, I find the two stories here so far about the teachers going right back to the lesson to be:
1) Powerful recollections.....that stood out in the poster's mind. (Good on you guys. Your minds remembered something important about the nature of some people due to that.)
2) Suggestive of where the teachers' allegiances fell. (Brutally out of bounds. They had a room full of kids that they should have dealt with as objective adults, for God's sake. And, the beat goes on.)

 

[Obliviax]

Interesting article today on pulitzer prize winner (back when it meant something) Dorothy Kilglien and her reporting on the assassination.

 

[wex18]

9th grade biology. The afternoon class always began with the day's announcements over the p.a. system, usually by a student from 9th grade speech class.

The president of the student council gets on and says, in a breaking voice, "this is a black day in American history." I thought he said "there is a black dog in American History" and laughed. The guy then said, "no, no, I can't do this." So the vice principal gets on and tells us what happened.

The biology teacher said, "Just like that, huh?" and went on with the day's lesson.

 

[Rip_E_2_Joe_PA]

I was 12. In 6th grade Mrs Lookabaugh's class. PA announcement came. TV was turned on. Classmates were in tears. I remember how slowly time went....like in a suspension.....I guess it was shock .... The long holiday weekend was hardly a cure....lots of huddling and consoling my younger brother and sister.

 

[NorCalcLion]

Interesting article today on pulitzer prize winner (back when it meant something) Dorothy Kilglien and her reporting on the assassination.

Lets get the spelling right It's Kilgallen You went to Penn State not some out of the way JC !

 

[MrDibbs]

9th grade civics class which was in the classroom closest to the cafeteria. Teacher was interrupted by one of the cafeteria ladies who told him the President was shot.

Teacher returned to the classroom and told us that news.

Classes changed for the last class of the day and I went to algebra. Half way through the class, the principal made the announcement that President Kennedy was dead ... a lot of us knew about the shooting but there was no confirmation.

After the initial shock of that news died down, algebra teacher says "getting back to this equation" ... unbelievable and still unbelievable 53 years later.

Went home after school, delivered my paper route and sat glued to the TV for the next 4 days.

 

[BobPSU92]

Lets get the spelling right It's Kilgallen You went to Penn State not some out of the way JC !

How about some punctuation?

 

[NorCalcLion]

How about some punctuation?

Sorry. Its my engineering education !

 

[BobPSU92]

 

[BobPSU92]

Sorry. Its my engineering education !

It's.

 

[ILLINOISLION]

Also in 8th grade, had just left lunch to go to my next class when the p.a. system asked everyone to report to their home rooms. Walked in and my teacher was crying......the start of an incredible few days.

Despite being 53 years ago, when I watch some of the video today, it seems like it just happened.

 

[TMS1950]

..in Social Studies class in 8th grade. Word came over the P.A. -- shock
and then a weekend in front of the TV, which included the additional shock of the assassin himself being shot and killed.[/QUOT

I was in 8th grade also. Spent the weekend in Washington for the funeral, will never forget waiting in line for 8 hours to walk past the casket.

 

[NorCalcLion]

It's.

Nobody likes a nitpicker !

 

[NC2017]

Interesting article today on pulitzer prize winner (back when it meant something) Dorothy Kilglien and her reporting on the assassination.

As the story goes, back in the day Kilgallen was sleeping with half of the movers & shakers and knew the other half intimately. She was abt to blow the lid off the assassination just before she turned up DOA. Mark Lane also did a lot of investigative work right out of the chute.

 

[psuro]

I was not born yet.

 

[Parkland Fan]

It was mild November Friday afternoon on campus. I was walking between classes between the old Electrical Engineering Building and Hammond, with my thoughts on going to Pittsburgh for the Penn State Pitt game at the end of the day.

I was suddenly aware that many students were walking along with transistor radios next to their ears.
My first thought was what is going on , the World Series was last month. I ran into a guy from my freshman dorm floor . Someone who I hadn't given much thought since my freshman year but who I now remember forever. I said what is going on ? He said the President has been shot.

A day and happening that is ingrained in my mind as any sporting event I've ever followed.
Obviously , more impactful than Maz's home run or the immaculate reception.

I was in 10th grade Latin class. I can even remember where I was sitting in that class when I heard the news. Our teacher, a nun, was a little late and when she came in she was crying. She just said, "They shot the president". Kennedy was loved by the clergy and most of us Catholics.

 

[fairgambit]

It was mild November Friday afternoon on campus. I was walking between classes between the old Electrical Engineering Building and Hammond, with my thoughts on going to Pittsburgh for the Penn State Pitt game at the end of the day.

I was suddenly aware that many students were walking along with transistor radios next to their ears.
My first thought was what is going on , the World Series was last month. I ran into a guy from my freshman dorm floor . Someone who I hadn't given much thought since my freshman year but who I now remember forever. I said what is going on ? He said the President has been shot.

A day and happening that is ingrained in my mind as any sporting event I've ever followed.
Obviously , more impactful than Maz's home run or the immaculate reception.

For those of us old enough to remember, it was a day we will never forget. It was the 1st time in my life I actually felt real fear.

 

[Lion78]

We were coming in from recess. I was in the second grade. Still remember one of the teachers telling our teacher as we walked back to the school.

 

[phillybillyreprise]

11th grade English class. The radio coverage abruptly came over the speaker above the door. My teacher said, "What the hell is this?"

When I am in a school room, I look up and see the speaker in the front of the room and remember the President's assination.

 

[NitNE73]

I was in 8th grade at St Frances Cabrini when Father Franey walked into our room and told Mother Monica that he needed to make an announcement. I can still see the look on her face as he told us what happened.

 

[ACGT]

10TH Grade Spanish I, Mr. Fox, the teacher, answered a knock at the door. He chatted briefly with the individual outside the door, returned to the front of the class, and somberly announced the tragic news.

 

[lionville]

2nd grade. I'll never forget the nun coming into the classroom and telling us JFK was shot in the head.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

as others have mentioned, if you were alive when this happened it's a day/period of time that you'll never forget.

first time I saw many of the adults I looked up to (family and otherwise) crying.

I've lived through some horrible events since then, but I don't think anything was as bad as that event. In my lifetime, the 9/11 events were the closest, in terms of shock, horror, and sadness.

I've never been to Dallas, but if I ever get there I will have to visit the museum at the former Texas Book Depository building. On the flip side, the JFK library in Boston is the best of the Presidential libraries that I have visited.

 

[LemonEars]

I was in 10th grade Latin class. I can even remember where I was sitting in that class when I heard the news. Our teacher, a nun, was a little late and when she came in she was crying. She just said, "They shot the president". Kennedy was loved by the clergy and most of us Catholics.

I too was in 10th grade. The school principal called everyone in the high school to assemble in the auditorium. He made the announcement. I recall the girls sobbing and the boys were angry and wanted to find out who did it.

By the way this is the same day that the noted writer and philosopher CS Lewis died from cancer.

 

[step.eng69]

For those of us old enough to remember, it was a day we will never forget. It was the 1st time in my life I actually felt real fear.

The second time Fair, I'm sure your first was JFK's Cuban crises speech..
Amended this, you were probably too young to understand the seriousness of the event.

 

[slwlion]

It was mild November Friday afternoon on campus. I was walking between classes between the old Electrical Engineering Building and Hammond, with my thoughts on going to Pittsburgh for the Penn State Pitt game at the end of the day.

I was suddenly aware that many students were walking along with transistor radios next to their ears.
My first thought was what is going on , the World Series was last month. I ran into a guy from my freshman dorm floor . Someone who I hadn't given much thought since my freshman year but who I now remember forever. I said what is going on ? He said the President has been shot.

A day and happening that is ingrained in my mind as any sporting event I've ever followed.
Obviously , more impactful than Maz's home run or the immaculate reception.

I was driving the Captain of our ship thru the Callahan tunnel in Boston and the traffic practically stopped ( we had no idea why).The folks just outside the tunnel heard the news on the radio and slowed to a crawl..

 

[BobPSU92]

I was not born yet.

Neither was I.

 

[psuro]

The Warren Commission - a prehistoric version of the Freeh Report?

Feel free to discuss amongst your selves.

 

[Victor E. Bell]

I was in 10th grade Latin class. I can even remember where I was sitting in that class when I heard the news. Our teacher, a nun, was a little late and when she came in she was crying. She just said, "They shot the president". Kennedy was loved by the clergy and most of us Catholics.

My Dad still has JFK's official presidential photo hanging in his tv room. I wasn't born yet but Pop's a huge fan of the whole Camelot legacy and has an extensive library of books and films about the assassination.

 

[kgilbert78]

I was in second grade in a little Christian school in Willow Grove. We were all told to pray for the president (which we all did), but the odd part was that he was already dead when we hear the news. This is one of my earliest memories (Glenn's space flight being another)--sitting in front to the TV for the rest of the weekend trying to make sense of it all. It's the defining moment of kids from my era--the one my wife does not understand at all, as she was about 1 year old when it happened.

My German penpal told me a couple of years back (she's about 58 now) that she remembered her mom waking her up to tell her and they prayed for him too.

 

[delcoLion]

as others have mentioned, if you were alive when this happened it's a day/period of time that you'll never forget.

first time I saw many of the adults I looked up to (family and otherwise) crying.

I've lived through some horrible events since then, but I don't think anything was as bad as that event. In my lifetime, the 9/11 events were the closest, in terms of shock, horror, and sadness.

I've never been to Dallas, but if I ever get there I will have to visit the museum at the former Texas Book Depository building. On the flip side, the JFK library in Boston is the best of the Presidential libraries that I have visited.

I had a trip to Dallas quite some time ago, now, but we did get a chance to go over the Depository and walk around the street. It was... eerily quiet, somber. I don't whether it was due to the knowledge that it happened there or what but it was a strange feeling.

 

[kgilbert78]

I had a trip to Dallas quite some time ago, now, but we did get a chance to go over the Depository and walk around the street. It was... eerily quiet, somber. I don't whether it was due to the knowledge that it happened there or what but it was a strange feeling.

We did the same a couple years back--and went into the street and stood on the X. Eerie. Helped my wife to understand it better, as she was too young when it happened.

 

[Roar More]

We were in the midst of a ninth grade algebra test when the news came over the speakers. Girls were crying. Guys were upset, but Mrs. Dillon kept the test going. I recall a significant fail rate. I never did succeed in algebra after that. (I tell people I am a segregationist because I don't believe numbers and letters belong together.)

I went home and waited for a few hours until the newspapers came so I could deliver "bad news on the doorstep(s)" on my route.

A few days later we were watching TV when they were walking Oswald through the building. My four year old sister pointed her thumb and forefinger at the TV and said, "bang" at the exact moment Ruby pulled the trigger. She thought she had shot the guy on television.

 

[rem524]

It was a terrible event but my story is on the lighter side. I was almost 6 months old and my Mom was changing my diaper when the news came on the TV. She turned around to watch the TV and I'm sure was in total shock. I rolled over and fell off the changing table. Oops.

I can't compare but think of 9/11 as the most similar event that I remember.