November 22, 1963: WHERE WERE YOU, AND WHAT WERE YOU DOING WHEN YOU HEARD THAT JFK HAD BEEN ASSASSINATED?

[Valentine Mark Herman]

On November 22, 1963, I went to the Globe Theatre, Stockton, to see the Beatles. It was the only time I got to see them.

I went to the gig with 2 girls I was in love with -- Diane and Jenny (for the purposes of this Blog, I will not use their real names -- Jenny and Diane).

It was a great concert, although you couldn't hear much of the music because of all the screaming.

We took the bus back to Darlington, and snuggled up all cosy and warm together on the back seat, and I had an arm around each of my soon-to-be, I hoped, sweethearts. Diane and Jenny were -- as you will no doubt imagine -- enamoured by my charms....or perhaps it was the afterglow of the Beatles.

Anyway, I realised I had to make a very difficult decision - which of the two lovely ladies was I going to walk home?

I hadn't decided when we got back to the bus station in Darlington (where we lived).

And then we heard the news -- JFK had been shot, and was not expected to live.

Everyone who we saw was in a state of shock -- after all JFK had just saved us from the Cuban Missile Crisis and had faced-off Khruschev.

For the three of us, that was the end of a magic evening. Diane took the last bus home to the west of the town. Jernny took the last bus eastwards. And I waalked home, beacuse I had spent all of my money on a concert programme, and pop corn and cokes for the girls in the interval.

It took me another two years before Diane and I started going out together. I never went out with Jenny again.

There is a sort of Mail -- if not Mail Art -- part to this story. I had a pen-pal at the time who lived in Windsor (about 250 miles/400 kms from Darlington) who was called Liz. (She was not Her Royal Highness Queen Elizaabeth 11 who also lived in Windsor). I remember writing to Liz the next day about the concert and the assassination.

THE END

[Rochleigh Z. Wholfe]

Where was I when I heard President JFK was shot? I was in High School  on my way to drama class when my teacher, Sister Paulette ran out and met me in the hall to give me the tragic news. School was dismissed shortly after and I went home to view the rest of the news with my family on TV. It was a very dark time in United States history.

Take care.

[Robin Moore]

I love the story Val.  I was only about 6 months old when this tragedy happened.  I asked my hubby the other day where he was, he said "he was in school at the time and was around 7 years old and remembers all the girls hugging each other and crying, the teacher also had tears in her eyes as well. We have dvr'd two specials this past week about JFK, one was simulcast all over the country and world I think.  

I find all these stories fascinating and interesting. 

Thanks for sharing.

Robin

[Nancy Bell Scott]

The loudspeakers in class at school announced that the president had been shot. In the hall my history teacher told me he had died. Buses arrived and we were sent home early. At home my mother sat on the edge of her bed, crying with her head in her hands. When she looked up, she had an expression of sorrow I'd never seen before on her face. My best friend, Ann, and I were depressed for months. In February we decided we had to try to snap out of it and fell in love with the Beatles. 

[David Stafford]

I was in Mrs. Brewer's English class at San Antonio Junior High. Mr. Griffith, the principal, came in and whispered something to Mrs. Brewer. She teared up immediately. Then she relayed the information. I think most of us were too young to take in the enormity of the event. Though tears from Mrs. Brewer was telling. She was not a sentimental woman. Apparently neither was I because later that night Lee Zieber and I went to see Mutiny on the Bounty (the Marlon Brando version). The audience was small. For many years I kept the Palo Alto Times newspaper with its 2 inch headline "Kennedy Assassinated" pinned to my wall. A few years ago I gave the newspaper to my friend Mark Duran for use as a movie prop though it has doubtless found its way to a landfill since then.

[Suus in Mokum]

Wasn't born yet ;)

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

Truly understand, Valentine,

It is good to remember, and Friday, November 22, 1963, I shall never forget.

I was not 3 or 8 years old, 

fifty years ago, I was 20 and in my painting class

in the art department of my college in Chicago, it was noontime.

The head art professor was in her office down the hall and had her

radio on the Classical Music station, strains of Vivaldi coming into the art room, even

though we "hip" students would have preferred Peter, Paul and Mary.

Then the music was interrupted and the announcement:

"The President has been shot in Dallas".

We all rushed to the office, not understanding what we had just heard.

Then over the speakers came the announcement and that classes were canceled

until after Thanksgiving weekend. All were stunned, and silent, some crying.

I had to return home from Loyola University, on the north side, via the "L".

Never have I sat in such silence on crowded public transportation.

It was as if the world had ended...

and the very special world that JFK created had ended...

a great global loss indeed. 

[Valentine Mark Herman]

Thank you, one but not all.

I find it sad that someone has completely missed the point in this Blog which I believe sheds some cultural and historical light on where we -- as individuals, and as nations -- were half a century ago, and instead has posted her own deranged messages. To keep to the spirit of what this is supposed to be about I have deleted them, and I hope you will understand although, sadly, she will not -- ever).

In the meantime, I welcome your comments and observations.

Val

[Suus in Mokum]

Personal history, thank you Val

[borderlinegrafix]

Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it - George Santayana

[Amy Irwen]

I was only 8...so I was like BG...not aware...but I remember the day of the funeral. We always came home from school for lunch. My mom had the TV on and was crying....I remember being scared because I had never seen her cry before. I would not realize the change in history this would cause due to President Kennedy's death until I was older.

We must remember the past...it lives with us...