FDR's death, April 12, 1945, by Marion Hilgers
From MemoryArchive
Who: Marion Hilgers What: Death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt When: April 12, 1945 Where: Chicago, Ill.
I will always remember the day President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died. Because it was wartime, I got a job in an office at the ripe old age of 15. I had graduated from a commercial high school, St. Philomena in Cragin, and had only taken the two years that were required. I looked older and my mother had worked as a cleaning lady there, so that was probably the reason I was hired at Onsrude Machine Works. Onsrude Machine Works made the gun stocks for the Springfield Rifles that were being used in the war.
Back then you did everything you were told, so I wasn't just a billing clerk. I also did the outgoing mail. I was down in the mail room putting letters into a sealing machine. The shipping manager had the radio on and they broke into the program and announced that Franklin Roosevelt had passed in Warm Springs, Ga. All the men stopped talking. After the first report they began to wonder what would happen to the country.
Since then, I've seen a lot more presidents die and get elected. You remember some more than others. History will portray them much differently than I recalled. But then, my memory isn't what it used to be.
External Links:
