Where Were You on 11/22/1963 ?

[cj's dad]

50 Years ago this coming Friday!

JFK assassinated!

I believe that everyone alive and at a cognizant age knows where they were when the news first broke.

I was in 10th grade Geometry class when the principal broke in to make an announcement that the President had been shot. This was around 2:00PM. We adjourned to the Gymnasium for a prayer service (this was a private catholic school) after which we were dismissed for the day. I remember that my dad, a hard assed bricklayer and union official cried when he heard the news that the Pres was dead.

What a day !!

[wiffleball whizz]

This will be a good thread....looking to hear different versions of this bad day in history

My father told me him and his best friend cut school and were playing pinball at Artie's in Edison nj for 15 cents a game and selling the credits

He painted the picture very clear.....when this happened the place came to a standstill and everubody had on the news radio


This was def one of those events you remembered where you were

[Ocala Mike]

I was in my last semester at Queens College in NYC. Went to my morning class, then decided to cut the rest of my classes and bused over to the Big A with my bookbag. Played the double and maybe the 3rd race, then an announcement came over the loudspeaker (it was Fred Cappossella, and I'll never forget it) that JFK was shot and killed. The remainder of the day's races were cancelled, and I don't think they raced again for a week.

I went home and went to my job at the Boys' Club of Queens in Astoria that night (I was the librarian), and the kids and I gathered around the tv set until closing time at the club. I can remember it like yesterday (yet I can't remember yesterday!).

[PaceAdvantage]

I remember where I was when I heard Elvis had died, and John Lennon had been shot...but I don't remember this...it happened years before I was born...

[HUSKER55]

Mom was listening to the radio, ya know. the one about the size of a piano.

She started to cry and kept saying...what will we do now?

I can still remember her standing by the ironing board and dropping the iron when she heard the news.


Mom was a staunch republican but she said that god sent the right people at the right time and JFK was it.

[horses4courses]

Palatine, IL

I was 5 years old.... can remember bits and pieces of TV coverage.
Soon after it happened, my mother and I went over to a neighbor's house.

Recall the feeling of shock and sadness, and the day of the funeral.
Some of my earliest memories.

[BlueShoe]

Working in a Zody's Department Store in Burbank, California.

[chrisl]

I was a little over a month old. Just started reading the pp's, getting my pace figs on

[Rookies]

I was in Grade 8 and the Principal ( a Nun) came in to make the announcement to the one kid that was American. She was, of course, devastated and left for home immediately.

Do recall the next day watching TV live at home, when Oswald got his.

P.s. Perhaps in 1961, JFK and Jackie visited Ottawa (where I lived at the time) He visited the RCMP HQ, which was adjacent to my Catholic Grade School. As testimony to the times, we were asked to provide a school audience and the two of them passed in front of me in an open horse drawn carriage, from about 5 feet away.

Still have the pic, I believe.

[Overlay]

I was in fourth grade in Cincinnati. We started to hear rumors circulating in school during the day, and the story was all over the news by the time I got home. I remember being glued to the TV until the funeral on Monday, and being off from school because of it. My clearest memory was the continual roll of muffled drums and the playing of dirges during the processions between the White House, the Capitol, Saint Matthew's Cathedral, and Arlington National Cemetery.

[NJ Stinks]

I was an 8th grader too. Our principal, Mother Raymond, came into the classroom and told us the news. I remember a bunch of kids started to cry. Shortly after that we were sent home.

I can't say I was glued to the TV afterwards but my parents and older brother were. Really, I didn't follow politics at the time and only read the sports pages. I guess you could say I was oblivious at 13. I mean - I knew who Kennedy was but I had no sense of how much he was loved. I found out pretty quick.

[Johnny V]

I was in grammar school and the Mother Superior came to the door of the classroom and after a short conversation our nun announced to the class that "President Kennedy was shot in the head and Vice President Johnson was shot in the arm". Of course that report about Johnson was untrue it was Connolly that was in the car with JFK. The reaction of the class was one of shock. Without a doubt Kennedy was very popular among us with him being the first Catholic president and all that.
They canceled classes for the day and sent us home. When I got home and my mother came to the door she was crying and I knew then JFK was dead. It was the first time I had ever seen my mother cry. We were all virtually glued to the TV from then right on through Oswald getting killed and the JFK funeral. I will never forget that day.

[magwell]

I remember thinking that his death was the most significant thing that had ever happened. Until time moved on, the country moved on and started marking time since it all happened, his wife and kids moved on, so it turned out it was just significant for him, because for him everything was over....very sad

[lamboguy]

i think that everyone on EST time was in school. the school i was in was the same town as the birthplace of JFK, Brookline, Ma. we had televisions in every room of the school and we all watched what was going on. i was in Latin class and i remember the teacher and other classmates in tears. the town was completely devastated, business's didn't open for weeks. and they kept our school closed for 3 days after the shooting.

[jballscalls]

I was negative 17 years old when it happened, but I did ask my mom about this last week and she was saying similar to many others, she was in grammar school and the teacher got called out of the room by the principal, came back and in and delivered the news. They also were dismissed for the day shortly afterwards.