Your Memories & Thoughts of JFK, 11.22.63 Up To Present

[PlummMeanGreen]

I was 12 years old on 11/22/63 and it still seems like yesterday to me.

Went home from school & my mother was on the sofa sobbing as we watched

that day's tragedy in Dallas.

A cousin, ie, Jackie Oliver went to school with J.D. Tippits son...she told me at a

family reunion near Fort Parker how Dallas police came to her school to tell

Tippetts son about his daddy then Jackiie told me...."Jimmy, as long as I'll live

I will never forget that boy's loud sobs for his daddy as they led him out of the school.."

We were all glued to our black & white TV's for 3-4 days.

Stayed home from church on 11/24 and saw L.H. Oswald get shot

on live TV.

Today has been a sad day because it made me think about JFK, Jackie, LBJ, then my mother,

then my father.............all no longer among the living.

Baby boomers remember 11/22/63 and will till the day we die, too.

Question: Isn't the UNT Law School headquartered in the same building where Oswald was killed in its basement?

Edited November 22, 2013 by PlummMeanGreen

[gksmith]

I was 2. Don't remember anything.

I watched the 2 hours WFAA put on about thier coverage. The film of the breakfast in Ft. Worth was very out of focus. Was the whole world that way then?

[EagleMBA]

I was sitting in a freshman English class in the Liberal Arts Building on the Pan American campus in Edinburg when crowd noise in the hall got louder and louder. The prof checked it out, came back looking ashen, told us quickly the bottom line, and dismissed class. I walked back to the dorm and crowded around the TV in the lobby with other residents. After a while (I am ashamed to say in retrospect) we decided to go to Mexico, have a few cervezas, and mess with the ladies. When we got to Reynosa, the "establishments" were all shuttered. When we asked why, we were told "Because Kennedy is dead." The Mexicans showed more respect for Kennedy than we did at that moment.

Memories of the events of that day, the effects it had on history, and the ghost of how ignorant I was at that age, will be with me until I die.

[LongJim]

I was in utero, but along those lines, I distinctly remember my mom crying in front of the black and white TV a few years later when RFK was shot.

[JKvsHimself]

I wasn't born yet, but I watched the two hours WFAA put on this morning and it was all so surreal. I can't imagine the emotions of those around that day.

[MeanGreen61]

Working my part-time job in the Braniff Building. Secretary answered the phone, turned pale and handed it to me. Desk officer told me what happened and to report to the station immediately.

[UNTexas]

It's about as historically significant as Garfield or McKinley. This one just had cameras rolling. Not to diminish someone's death either. The assassination of Lincoln completely changed reconstruction which has effects we still feel today. Can you imagine if Reagan died after he was shot? The Soviet Union could potentially still be around. Weird thought.

I think none of the aforementioned assassinations hold a candle to the historical significance of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Either way I hate the way the media goes crazy for arbitrary anniversaries of tragedies.

Edited November 22, 2013 by UNTexas

[Huff]

I was a dumb ole P.E. major at NTSU when that happened. I had a class at Fouts Field called "The Care And Prevention of Athletic Injuries". The lead trainer taught us how to tape ankles and other body parts. We had a test scheduled for that day. We were gathered near the gate on the northwest part of the stadium prior to class when someone said "turn on your radios, Kennedy's been shot". We listened in amazement at the news reports coming out of Dallas. Class was dismissed. We never did have that test. The whole country stopped for a week. The shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald occurred on live television then there was the funeral procession, funeral, and burial from Washington D.C. The football game for that Saturday was cancelled as were almost all sporting events. The NFL games were played, however. I read on another web site today where one person described the whole time as being surreal. I would not argue with that description.

[Greenrex]

I was mighty excited driving from Denton that day. My professors at North Texas would surely understand anyone skipping class. It was a beautiful day in Dallas and Judy, my sister and I went outside where she worked near Mockingbird Lane and stood at the curb on Lemmon Avenue waiting for the JFK car to drive by.

There were no more than 40 or 50 people in sight and when his car drove by it seemed to slow down and both Kennedys waved to us. We vigorously returned the waves. It was my first time seeing him in person and that limousine was so close to us. Mrs. Kennedy was beautiful and he was handsome although somewhat smaller than I had imagined. He was tan and his hair was lighter than I expected.

I was halfway back to Denton when I got the news about the shooting and immediately turned around and went back to Dallas. I don't remember what street I was on where I parked my car but it was somewhere downtown, I think near the Nieman Marcus store. Men and women still dressed for work were standing around. Some were sitting on the sidewalk.

Many were crying. It was early afternoon and the sky darkened so much that the street lights came on, the wind picked up, and the temperature dropped. I was cold and shaking.

After a couple of hours as I drove toward Denton that afternoon I began to wrap my thoughts around the fact that the world had changed that afternoon. I thought about the countless times that I had tried to convince my parents and others to vote for Kennedy. My body wouldn't stop shaking. Later that night a friend invited me over because it was his birthday. I don't remember what was said or anything else about the night but, I didn't say much that would reveal my feelings.

I don't think I ever got over that day. The world didn't either.

[letsgiveacheer]

At ten years old, I was in recess at my school playground in Norfolk when the teachers came out and told us the news. We then went back into the building where the 4th, 5th and 6th grades all filed into the auditorium to watch the proceedings on the only television set owned by the school.

[Rudy]

Didn't the Kennedy White House donate an Eagle to UNT to fly before games, but it died before arriving?

There, tied it into football.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

-- I was a soph. at Howard Payne and had just walked out of a "remedial" math class that I was in charge of teaching, when a friend rounded the corner and said the President had been shot... I then went to my Safeway job two blocks away and they sent me to the bank with all the morning checks which was exchanged for cash for that afternoon's use and while waiting in line at the drive-up window I saw the lady in the car in front burst into tears ... I then walked to the car behind me ( to a friend from college that was doing the same for another grocery store ) and he told me the radio (my pickup did not have one) had just announced the President was dead... The rest of the day was rather strange as I worked at the store....On Sunday I was working (which I did once a month) and a customer told us Oswald had been shot.... and when I was putting groceries into a car I heard on their car radio that he had died... Doesn't seem possible that was 50 years ago... I watched a lot of TV the next few days. I transfered to North Texas the following year.

--To me that was the start of a very strange time... the Viet Nam war got worse [ I was draft bait until age 24 when they decided to fail my physical, high sugar count ] , civil right protests and demonstrations increased , drugs was almost unknown then but by 1970 it was common, and 1968 was even stranger with RFK and Martin L. King being killed, the Chicago protests, and many more events, followed by Woodstock the following summer... It seemed it all started with the JFK shooting and by 1968-9 things had really changed. We all wondered what would happen next with all the protests and violence going on. A lot changes in women's rights and racial rights happened in that period..

--Those who did not live through that time really don't get how it was before then and the changes that took place... . I graduated from UNT in spring of 1966, lived at College Inn (the first and second year it existed) and never once saw a marijuana cigarette or knew anyone using drugs...( believe me my floor wasn't a group of angels ). In 1971 while working on a masters at UNT, it was everywhere.. ..also the respect for government had deteriorated greatly because of Nam and the civil rights events. In 1963, the entire Southwest Conference schools were all white in classes and athletics, UNT wasn't. .... all TV commercials and many other things were too.... It was a crazy time to live through and witness the changes...

Edited November 22, 2013 by SCREAMING EAGLE-66

[UNTexas]

Didn't the Kennedy White House donate an Eagle to UNT to fly before games, but it died before arriving?

There, tied it into football.

No

[trud1966]

I wasn't born yet...But coincidently, my brothers and sisters were just talking about this a few weeks ago. How they were in school, and when the news came across, (private Catholic school) that they had the entire school praying for the president and his family. They said the family watched the funeral on TV and it was the first time they'd ever seen our dad cry when he saw the riderless horse being escorted behind the casket.... Had to be a really rough time for our country....

[Graddean]

I was giving an Algebra I test at McKinney High School when the principal piped in the radio broadcast over the PA. I had students crying. Obviously, the test was forgotten. The principal asked me to help monitor one of the student buses to the football gamer that Friday night to Sulphur Springs. It was cold and rainy (miserable) to match everyone's mood. One of the worst times of my life.

[cwb]

Sixteen days old living with my mom at my grandmother's house in the neighborhood east of Kiest blvd and Cedar Crest blvd intersection. Just across RL Thornton from the Texas Theater.

While I am sure that the event was upsetting to me, I have a feeling that I was a little more concerned about my next bottle and my rapidly filling diaper. Not to mention the anger I felt as no one could understand what I was trying to say.

But in reality, I have always hated that this incident had to occur in my home town.