OT: Where were you on November 22, 1963

[seeya27]

Kindergarten in Middletown, CT. I remember lining up early for the school bus, but that is about all. I also recall watching the funeral and thinking JFK was really alive after seeing images of RFK.

Fleeting recall at best.

By 11, I was an all-out RFK fan although I didn't fully understand his world view. I just loved his energy and youth, I suspect. He became my political inspiration.

 

[Bigboote]

I was crawling around in diapers at 9 months old

I was a little older, but I was going to reply, probably drooling and soiling myself.

 

[Steelerone]

Working nights. My wife woke me up and told me what had happened. Took me a few minutes to wrap my mind around it. I remember my mothers reaction when FDR passed away and now I know how she felt.

 

[cbraarj]

170 days old.

 

[DefenseBB]

at 18 mo's old, I was in the kitchen with my little basketball wondering when my dad was going to wrap my left arm around my body to work on my right hand...it would be until 12 years later a broken left arm forced to use my right more...

 

[MilfordHusky]

Walking across the parking lot at Jonathan Law High School in Milford.

The following weekend was very dreary.

I had seen JFK in a motorcade in Stratford about a year earlier.

 

[Boreifs]

I was in an English class in my junior year of high school when a student from another class (who passed away this year) came in and told us. Only one person spoke; she said “Lyndon Johnson is our President?!” It’s like it happened yesterday.

 

[MilfordHusky]

at 18 mo's old, I was in the kitchen with my little basketball wondering when my dad was going to wrap my left arm around my body to work on my right hand...it would be until 12 years later a broken left arm forced to use my right more...

As I recall, there was a shortage of Saran Wrap for a while!

 

[baggerbob]

Was in study hall, my senior year of high school, when it was announced the president had been shot.

 

[bluefan64]

Junior year at UCONN. Just finished lunch and was playing cribbage with a guy in the next dorm room. Soon to leave for afternoon classes. Shocking news on the radio. Later that day attended a solemn ceremony in the grassy area behind the Student Union conducted by a minister, a priest, and a rabbi. Extreme saddness and disbelief on campus. An indelible imprint for life on our memories.

 

[Buzzyboy]

I was in my freshman class in college, having just come back from running some track ..... entered the locker room and the word spread instantaneously .... wanted to believe it was wrong and spent the most numbing weekend of my life because JFK was like a Prince to me and most of my friends .... just the fact that kind of hate could exist in our country and the evil that took this amazing man from our midst ....

 

[Buzzyboy]

Good question. I was driving home from my teaching job in Georgia when the news came over the radio. The rest of the trip flew by, as I was mesmerized by the unfolding of the details of the shooting. What I don't recall was the exact moment the president was declared dead, but he died shortly after the shooting, so I must have known before I got home. Terrible day.

it was probably about an hour or hour and half from the actual shooting that he was announced dead at Parkland Memorial

 

[bantamlaker]

If my memory serves, Walter Cronkite was the person who announced the death of JFK to the television world (and maybe the whole world). I think my parents DVRed it .

 

[Buzzyboy]

Was doing my senior traiming at Slade jr. high school In New Britain, Ct.

I'm a New Britain guy now living in Florida and was a freshman at CCSC, now obviously CCSU when I heard of his assassination .... later listened to the details on the news on TV at the Pizza House on Stanley Street next to the CCSC campus ....

 

[TRUCONN76]

I was in fourth grade in Catholic school when our teacher a nun was called out of the class. She came back in crying and told us that the president had been shot and asked us all to kneel and pray for him. She was called out again and came back to tell us that he was dead and that we were being dismissed and needed to go home. I can still remember the sadness of that 15 minute walk home and later watching the funeral.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

I lived in the Bronx, NY. I was a Junior in HS in Manhattan. We were having tests so when my early test was finished I took the subway home. Someone on the train said President Kennedy was shot in Dallas!
When I got to my apartment I turned on the TV and saw Walter Cronkite announce the President had died!
Saturday I just watched news coverage of the shooting.
On Sunday I was outside playing street football with friends when some lady yelled out the window that Oswald had been shot!
The whole thing felt surreal. A crazy time!

 

[oldhusky]

I was in the 6th grade I think. What I remember most was there was an announcement on the PA system for all the teachers to report to a meeting, leaving the students in their class to ponder what might have happened. Then the teacher returned to the classroom with a grim expression and informed the students.

Many in my age bracket probably spent a great deal of time after that watching the news and of course the funeral, eternal flame etc., but to my surprise I was watching live TV as Oswald was being transferred, and of course saw Ruby murder him as it happened on live TV.

That, the landing on the moon, and the coverage of 9/11 were probably the most dramatic events I have seen on television in my lifetime.

 

[BfromCT]

This topic has very meaningful memories for me. Like everyone else of my generation, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when the tragic news came. On November 22, 1963, I was a Pfc. in the US Army having recently arrived at my duty station at Andrews Barracks as part of the Berlin Brigade in occupied West Berlin. It was a Friday evening and I together with a couple of friends were drinking Shulteiss Bier in the enlisted men’s club. The sergeant in charge announced the the President had been assassinated and the club was immediately closing. In shock, we walk a few blocks to another establishment to get another beer, the announcement was soon made there, all dancing stopped, and everyone became extremely quiet.

Kennedy had struck a deep chord in the city after he visited in June 1963 and, in an address at Rathaus Schoeneberg, proclaimed “Ich bin ein Berliner.” The entire city went into mourning and it seemed as if every window was lighted with candles until after the funeral. I attended a memorial service at Rathaus Schoeneberg to honor the late president.

 

[Lawrence]

I was in school (7th grade); Announcement came that we would be dismissed early. When I found out President Kennedy was shot, I was devastated and the memories still remain clear to me.

 

[veryolddog]

I was at UConn.

 

[JimGunther]

I was working at my HS/College job sweeping UNDER the trucks at the old Roadway Express Terminal. Heard a headline on the radio. I left immediately to go to a local gas station where I hung out.
I announced that JFK had been shot and - never forget - a young fellow who I had previously admired- said, "So what? He never did anything for me" I immediately canceled him - Never saw him again (THank God).
THat had to be the longest weekend of my life!

 

[topogigio]

5th grade classrooom. Vividly remember teachers gather outside door, and immediately knew something was wrong. We were all still reeling from the “bomb” drills, cowering under our desks the year before. Very sad time, however, the time playing outside with school cancelled, was a great diversion!!

 

[Jackcatscal]

I was in the 6th grade I think. What I remember most was there was an announcement on the PA system for all the teachers to report to a meeting, leaving the students in their class to ponder what might have happened. Then the teacher returned to the classroom with a grim expression and informed the students.

Many in my age bracket probably spent a great deal of time after that watching the news and of course the funeral, eternal flame etc., but to my surprise I was watching live TV as Oswald was being transferred, and of course saw Ruby murder him as it happened on live TV.

That, the landing on the moon, and the coverage of 9/11 were probably the most dramatic events I have seen on television in my lifetime.

I’d add the televised Challenger disaster.

 

[Ricker]

As I read this thread, everybody remembers where they were and what they were doing in detail when they got the news. Until this thread I hadn't focused on the limited details other people had getting the news through 'the grapevine' depending on what you were doing and where in the world you were. I happened to be home from school for an unremembered reason, and was watching the Gayle Storm Show when the assassination attempt was reported and the news chaos began. The news coverage started right away putting together bits and pieces so I knew as much as anybody else in 'real time'. It took a while before his death was confirmed. The full weekend unedited replay of news coverage was aired a number of years ago and was very interesting.

 

[cohenzone]

I was a UConn frisk sitting in the Student Union lounge just to the right of the entrance from Hillside. Don’t know if that space is testily a lounge. I was there because on Friday’s I had a few hours between classes. Two guys came through who I kinda of knew and said “The President was shot”. The first thing that I thought was “who would shoot Homer Babbidge” because the idea that anyone would shoot JFK wasn’t remotely on anyone’s mind. When reality dawned on me, I joined hundreds of students on the patio ;us that still there?) behind the Union where WHUS had put a speaker out of their window so we could hear updates because he hadn’t yet been pronounced dead. How unreal was it? I had to go to my class, a small discussion group, in the Business Ed building across the from the Union. I ran into a girl I knew. I asked her if she’d heard that Kennedy was shot. Her first reaction was “what’s the punchline”. She was shocked when I convinced her it was no joke.