Assassination of JFK, 1963, by Sheila Jack Crabil et al.
From MemoryArchive
Who: JOHN KENNEDY What: MEMORIES OF HIS DEATH When: NOV. 22,1963 Where: DALLAS, TEXAS
Dear Family and Friends,
It came to me that I should collect memories of Kennedy's death and share with those that I know. Reading this will be different than listening to the evening news and their rendition of the events. To me, personal accounts are the REAL history of our world. Below you will find a brief description of that day from Wikipedi, then the memories of my friends that decided to participate, words from John Kennedy and then a summation.
"The assassination of John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, took place on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, USA at 12:30 p.m. CST (18:30 UTC). John F. Kennedy was fatally wounded by gunshots while riding with his wife Jacqueline in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, an employee of the Texas School Book Depository in Dealey Plaza, according to the conclusions of multiple government investigations, including the ten-month investigation of the Warren Commission of 1963-4 and the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) of 1976-9. This conclusion initially met with widespread support among the American public, but polls, since the original 1966 Gallup poll, show a majority of the public hold beliefs contrary to these findings.[1][2] The assassination is still the subject of widespread speculation and has spawned numerous conspiracy theories (even the HSCA, based on disputed acoustical evidence, concluded that Oswald may have had unspecified co-conspirators), though these theories have not generally been accepted by mainstream historians and no single compelling alternative theory has emerged."- Wikipedia
Sheila Jack Crabill
My personal experience with John Fitzgerald Kennedy started years before his untimely death. I was just a gradeschool kid, growing up in Austin,Texas and not knowing much about politics. Playing at Ramsey Park was more my speed. But, I did get a chance to take off from school, go down to the Texas State Capitol building in Austin and shake the hand of John Kennedy, Senator. He was so handsome, he smiled at me, asked my name, said my name back to me and the firmness of his grip was enough to tell me that "I'll liked this man with beautiful hair and Yankee accent".
Time passes and I am a student at McCallum Highschool in north Austin. This life shattering event found me in gym class, out on the field, learning to play golf. We were told. Everyone just looked at one another. No one cried but I could tell that things had changed and would never be the same. I had felt this feeling before at the age of 7 when I was told that my Father had died. Shock sets in. No going back. Things were going to change.
School was suppose to let out as President Kennedy's next stop after Dallas was Austin. Everyone was going downtown to be there for the parade up Congress Avenue. That never happened. Instead, we were let out of school and sent home early. Thus began the longest Thanksgiving holiday of my young life.
Darkness descended on my teenage world as I knew it. Funeral music played on every radio station, TV coverage was somber, Thanksgiving was awful. Judy and I tried to act like normal teenagers and cruise the drag, but only death durges came from the radio that hung from my rearview mirror. These are my memories. Camelot was destroyed that day in Dallas.
Please continue to read the personal memories of friends of mine and think of how our lives changed after that fateful day in history.
Phil
Well it was only 44 years ago but I will say I was in the Student Union Building at the University of Puget Sound, Tacoma Washington drinking coffee and trying to figure out what class I had just cut or was going to cut. The news hit the TV and Radio and the rest of the day went to hell in a hand basket.It is strange as it was all happening here in Dallas and in the wild west Tacoma it was cool wet and normal. Hard to believe that I ended up here in Dallas and not back in Seattle in 1969 when I got off active duty. Just went where the jobs were. Seattle was a ghost town with no jobs so moved to where the action was. We talked about it and drank a great deal of coffee and beer that day. Best I can remember. I try to remember the good thinks and let some other folks remember the bad thinks since they more then likely have nothing better to do!
Stanley
I had just started with IBM and back then we had a very small parts room in downtown Houston where we dropped our service case and went to lunch. That morning Kennedy had been in Houston and we watched the parade (couldn't take calls as there was no one in their office).
As I dropped my service case in the parts room, the phone rang and the dispatcher told me that Kennedy had been killed in Dallas. I accused her of doing a bad joke!! She had to insist (several times) that it was no joke.
I sat down on my service case in utter disbelief!!!! I was stunned that such a thing could possibly happen because of so many security police around (they were on top of all the buildings when he came through Houston). I did not eat lunch that day and needless to say that not much work got done the rest of the day! I don't think anyone in Houston worked for the rest of the day.
Watching things happen on TV that night just did not seem real.
Forest
I was in my physics class at McCallum High here in Austin. I was a senior. Someone in the principals office had the good sense to jam the radio broadcast onto the school loudspeakers before the announcement about his death was made. We heard it all as it was happening. Started recording my thoughts in my spiral notebook. I have no idea where that piece of paper is now. I started thinking about how this might change the political scene, shifting from JFK to LBJ.
Tacie
I was in the 5th grade at Bryan School. I remember Mrs. Powers being called away for a few minutes. When she returned she was in tears and explained to our class that our President John Kennedy had been assassinated. It was very frightening to see a Teacher break down in complete devastation. I remember feeling extremely saddened and although at 10-11 years old I don't really believe we understood the complete tragedy in her words, there was an overwhelming sense of sadness over the entire school and community. An unspoken camaraderie throughout the community. I believe our school shut down and we were sent home for the remainder of the day to be with our families.
As I think of our world today, and the lack of respect we have for one another, our communities and the United States Government in general, I wonder how people would react today with the same news. The short lived week of people flying the flag and appearing to "Unite as a Nation" after the terrorist act on New York, was a good display of how soon people forget and return to their self-centered ways. I really wonder.
Gayle
My best friend, Linda, had the same last name of Rose, so we had almost all of our classes together. As we entered our Science classroom we noticed the intercom was on, only it wasn’t a teacher making an announcement. The voice was that of a newscaster. As I was thinking how weird that was, one of the boys near my desk blurted out, “President Kennedy has been shot.” I looked at him while the words tried to register in my brain. He was smiling, like kids sometimes do when they hear something exciting, even if it is terrible news. I turned back to look at the teacher, but he had his back to us and was facing the speaker hung next to the ceiling above the blackboard. I sat down in numb disbelief, and so did Linda next to me. Two boys started talking and laughing, and I think I told them to shut up, but maybe I just thought it. The room gradually became silent, excep t fo r the constant voice from the speaker. It seemed like it was no time at all before the announcer gave the world the bad news. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy had died. Again, the shock was so great that nobody spoke at first. These things just didn’t happen in the world of Junior High students. We were concerned about homework and dates and clothes and music. Presidents didn’t GET shot, much less die. Someone began to cry, but I didn’t turn around to see who it was. My world was shifting, like when my Grandpa died and we couldn’t believe it because we couldn’t see him. We all moved through the rest of the afternoon in a strange fog. School was released early and parents were called. I was already scheduled to spend the weekend with Linda. I remember we sat on the cement benches out front not speaking, which was rare for us. Her dad drove up in their station wagon, and I felt so relieved to see him! The connection with someone who loved me helped me feel safer somehow.
We were planning to go to a dance that night, but of course, that was canceled. Linda’s parents drove us around until they found a movie theater that was playing old Charlie Chaplin movies in an attempt to bring back the less-painful past. It wasn’t what was scheduled to be playing, and we kids had no interest in seeing some old, funny looking guy that we’d hardly heard of. Yet, Linda, her brother Larry and Sister Peggy, and I all needed a distraction. TV was nothing but news about the assassination and the capture of Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who did the shooting. So we went to the movie and ate popcorn and forgot somewhat the reality outside the darkened room. We laughed with the few other people inside as a way of blocking out reality. The only problem was, even though Charlie Chaplin was actually pretty funny, he usually looked sad, and we already felt sad and d idn’t need to see him remind us. I don’t know what Linda’s parents did in those two hours. I’m sure they needed a few hours without children to try to make some sense out of it all. They probably drank coffee at the bus station café near the theater. When they picked us up, we rode quietly home and everybody went to bed. I don’t remember whether Linda and I cried then or not, but if we were going to that was the perfect opportunity. It was dark in the bedroom, and we were at last alone.
Saturday was depressing. Houses didn’t have air conditioning then, even in sunny Florida, so every house had the windows open and the TV on. Linda and I walked around the neighborhood until we couldn’t stand it any longer. We ended up walking all the way to our school and back, which was several miles and took us all day. It at least helped us burn up some of the nervous energy. We talked about boys and giggled and all the usual stuff, but it wasn’t the same. When we returned to the noisy neighborhood we were tired, but nothing had changed.
Sunday Linda and I were in her bedroom when her parents started yelling, “They shot him! Somebody shot him!” We ran into the living room to find out that a man had rushed through the crowd as police escorted a handcuffed Lee Harvey Oswald and shot him on live, national TV. Thousands of Americans, maybe even millions, saw a life end before their very eyes. However people felt about Oswald, this aspect was shocking. Losing the president was bad enough. This was something beyond horrible. Linda and I looked at each other, and then at her family, and then the TV. Of course, later the footage was shown over and over. Something was very wrong about that to me. It wasn’t just that the man was dead. It was as if we had all been WITH him because we were able to see him shot. Live. In real time. Television, and America, would never be the same.
School was out Monday so everybody could watch the funeral on TV. Again, the neighborhood reverberated with the sounds of the procession and commentators from TVs inside houses. Walking around outside, it was impossible to escape the sadness. Staying inside wasn’t any better. It was a sad end to an awful weekend. I don’t think I’ve felt that same shock of horror until 9/11 hit.
School, and life, resumed Tuesday, as we all attempted to go back to normal. But normal was no longer normal, and in our hearts, I think we knew it.
Gayle Rose Calmes, Class of 1967
Cypress Lake Jr. & Sr. High School (Now just Jr. High)
Ft. Myers, Florida
Steve
I was walking out of the barracks at Lowrey Air Force base to march to Class. Someone had the radio on and ran out and told us he had been killed/shot. I was there for SAC training so we carried on, the other folks on the base stood by the rocket hauling special Planes with clubs
Sue
I was a teenager, living in Bellville, South Africa. We did not have TV’s in South Africa at the time, but my mom heard the dreadful news over the radio and it was as though time stood still. Our entire circle of friends and family were in a shocked state and all we could talk about was how poor Jackie must have felt and how the entire US nation must have felt. President Kennedy was the symbol of hope to the world and in him most of the people I knew at the time, trusted and believed. He was the epitome of kindness, love, sincerity, discipline, honesty and hope. It was truly a day, no, a period of mourning - a great loss to society and mankind. His death impacted the whole world to a greater extent than anyone else before and after him. The 11th September is a DAY no one will ever forget, but President Kennedy is a MAN no one wil l ever forget.
Carol
I was in junior high listening to my english teacher tell us that JFK had been shot. I felt incredible sadness. We were let out of school early and told to go home. One of my dear friends and I talked at length about what had happened not realizing the impact it would have so many years later. It still chokes me up to this day
Chuck
The day Kennedy was shot ... well lets see. At that time of my life I was in California just kinda hangin' out. As I remember it, the surf was up, the tide was turning and Tommy had come by and said we needed to hit the water and ride some big ones. After about 1-3 hours of surfing we decided we had gotten about as much hypothermia as we could handle, no wet suit in those days, and headed back to the house, it was about 11:00 AM. As I walked through the front door, I saw a "Special Bulletin" flash up on the TV screen. A somber faced reporter came on and said there was a report that the President had been shot in Dallas. I remember thinking, "Yeah sure, he was probably shot AT ... or maybe grazed." The reporter stayed on , but I went to shower and warm up a little. When I came back, the reporters were still on the air saying that Kennedy had been rushed to Parkland Hospital but did not hav e any more information. I was not a Kennedy fan so I was not that concerned about what was going on. Later in about noon it was announced that Kennedy had in fact been killed .... now I was concerned. Oh crap, LBJ!! I had heard how he had basically stolen his way into an elected position by letting the dead vote. The following week was taken up with many trips to the beach trying to catch that special wave and being "bummed" by all the funeral stuff on both the TV and radio.
Nina
The Kennedy assassination stands out as a solitary awareness of a loss of innocence. I think I instinctively understood at that age that the United States had lost its innocence at that moment. Kennedy was a symbol of that innocence, even if he himself wasn't so innocent as it turned out.
Arch
At home in front of the TV watching him televised live from Dallas , CBS of course. I was 12, living at home, the weekend was rather quiet. My mother, who has cancer, went to bed and stayed there for several days. Total disgust would provide the family reaction though they were not Democrats; it was an assault on the country and the office that appalled them.
We all knew it was wrong. Very wrong.
Sandy
As for the Kennedy memories. The day Kennedy was shot I had gone out to eat with my best friend Nedelyn & her sister Betty. It was Betty's birthday & her mother picked us up from school & was treating to a great lunch. When we got back to school the principal was announcing over the intercom what had happened. People we crying & screaming in the hallways. Everybody was so upset school couldn't continue. Betty's party was postponed so I spent the weekend with Nina. We rode & stayed at a place in the country (her place). Can't remember where it was or any details except that we got bored because the weather wasn't great & there wasn't anything on the TV except coverage of the funeral. How stupid I was. I was watching one of the greatest moments in history & I was bored. That's all I remember about the Kennedy assassination.
Collene
I will never forget when Kennedy was killed. We were living in London at the time and several of my friends and I were out in the common area of Carpenter's Park where we lived. It was around 7:30 PM and we were getting ready to head back in, when another friend came running out to tell us Kennedy had been shot in Dallas. His dad was a HAM radio operator. We all then split up and ran home to tell our folks. I remember busting through the front door and telling mom and dad about the shooting. They looked at me in the strangest way. Has this child gone off the deep end or is this just another of her pranks. About 30 seconds later the BBC came on with the announcement.
A couple of days later, we all dressed in our finest and went to the memorial service at the base chapel. There was no way that everyone could get in, so the service was held outside in a park area. I remember standing for what seemed forever with nothing but blue uniforms blocking any view I could even hope to achieve. The highlight was the 21 gun salute and lowering the flag to half mast.
Judy
President Kennedy, I was at lunch and the radio came over the loud speaker. It was odd because they never had turned the radio on before so people were hushing others to listen what was going on. Then the bell rang and I went to my next class all the time the radio was talking about the shooting in Dallas. I remember entering my classroom quietly and sitting at my desk. Everyone was quite, the teacher was at her desk just sitting and listening. Then the announcement was made about President Kennedy dying and the boy sitting next to me took off running out the door and the teacher just looked at him I guess she thought he was really upset and did not go after him. He returned in about 5 minutes and he said he had gone to lower the flag. I can't remember his name but I will look if my yearbook and see if I can remember who it was. I remember the teacher just looking at him and saying softly, Thank you. I don't remember what class I was in but I remember it was in the last wing of the school, on the opposite side from the gym. Could have been English or history. We just sat and listened to the radio the rest of the class. Don't remember much after that, I am sure I had to go over to the DPS and wait for Mama to get off work and then went home.
" We must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them" ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy
I want to thank all that sent their memories and hope that everyone who takes the time to read this will reflect on their memories, their beliefs, their feelings, their lives.
SHEILA JACK CRABILL November 19, 2007
