On Friday, November 22, 1963 I was seven years old and in the 2nd grade at Skyline Elementary School in Roeland Park, Kansas. After lunch we were taking our practice spelling test when our school day came to an abrupt end. We were told that President Kennedy had been shot and that we all had to go home.
When I got home, my mom was ironing and watching the TV. She explained to me that the President had been shot and had died. I remember feeling sad, but mostly I remember feeling scared. I knew that Caroline Kennedy was a year younger than me and I couldn't imagine what it must be like to have your dad die.
I remember watching the TV coverage over the next several days, but this many years later I'm not sure how much of it I actually remember and how much I remember from seeing it replayed in the years since then. I definitely remember seeing Lee Harvey Oswald being shot on live TV. Another scary event for a seven year old.
When "The Death of a President" by William Manchester was published in 1967, my folks bought the book. It was the thickest book I had ever read up to that point in my life.
In the years since I've read many books on President Kennedy and on the Kennedy family in general. Although I was so young, I will always remember looking up from my practice spelling test to be told that we were going home.
Fifty years! I can't believe it's been that long...
Thanks for sharing. So interesting.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it hard to believe that we can now say we remember something that happened 5p years ago? I was six years old at the time.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother was telling me stories of the WWs and I thought that was soooo long ago. Not in comparison... now.