November 22, 1963

PipestonePete · November 22, 2011 2:34AM

I was in third grade.

Julian · November 22, 2011 3:38AM

I was a senior in HS in physics class, taking an exam.

DIMEMAN · November 22, 2011 3:48AM

I was a Jr. in High School in P.E.

hammer1 · November 22, 2011 4:05AM

Freshman in college. I can still visualize where I was standing on campus when the PA announcement was made. Like being hit by a 2X4.

keyman64 · November 22, 2011 4:07AM

My father was in Dallas that day...

PerryHall · November 22, 2011 4:12AM

I was in 11th grade math class.

droopyd · November 22, 2011 4:25AM

Kindergarten.

pmac · November 22, 2011 4:30AM

HS freshman in graphic science class. All of us baby boomers are bringing out the past memories.

RedHerring · November 22, 2011 4:31AM

I was in utero.

MFH · November 22, 2011 4:38AM

I was in my Junior Year English class.

jesbroken · November 22, 2011 4:48AM

I had accompanied my Dad on a business trip to Atlanta, GA, which allowed me to miss school(no brainer). Dad had a meeting at the stock exchange and I elected to go to a movie, "Palm Springs Weekend" with Troy Donahue and Connie Stevens. When all of sudden across the bottom of the screen in typewriter type it said, "The President of the United States has been assassinated" like on clear tape or something(which it was). We all thought it part of the movie at first, but then it said, "The President of the United States has been fatally shot in Dallas, TX", I got up and went out to the lobby and hundreds of people were standing near a small tv set crying, bawling in total disbelief. There was no question that JFK was a much loved president, but I feel as much pain was being displayed regarding this assassination occurring in our country as much as the fact it occurred to JFK. Our internal safety had now been breached, but unknown to us all, it was only the tip of the iceberg of breaches to come. JMO
Jim

WoodenJefferson · November 22, 2011 4:58AM

In study hall in high school when the principle came on the PA and announced President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas. It wasn't until later we found out he was in fact dead.

Nice trilogy there pete.

I'm surprised the halves did not tone.

nutmeg · November 22, 2011 5:06AM

High school freshman, I had been dismissed early to be an altar boy at a senator's funeral at the widow's request. While outside waiting for the funeral to begin the driver of the hearse heard it on the radio of the hearse. Kind of weird, that's the way the whole church group of people found out.

guitarwes · November 22, 2011 5:06AM

I have always be intrigued with the Kennedy assasination for some reason. I was born 14 years 7 days after it happened, but if something comes on TV about it I find myself glued to it from start to finish.

My mom and dad says it was a tragic moment for this country, one they'll never ever forget.

edited for spelling

taxmad · November 22, 2011 5:32AM

<< <i>I was in utero. >>

I was in ovum...

My Sr. year in HS was the Challenger disaster. I still remember everyone watching the TV in the hall outside the library. Funny how tragedies imprint on our memories so much deeper than a warm summer day spent with loved ones...

luvcoins123 · November 22, 2011 6:05AM

3rd grade. Heard about it from our principle, Mr. Gary, over the PA system. 8 years old was too young to realize just how dire the situation really was for the USA. First and only time I ever saw my dad cry.

golden · November 22, 2011 6:10AM

I was in the 8th grade.

coinkid855 · November 22, 2011 6:16AM

I was -27....But my mom and I were in Dallas last year for a Jaguar game...We wen over to Dealey Plaza and went to the museum and everything...It was very interesting, and also very somber.

-Paul

GMan · November 22, 2011 6:19AM

I wasn't born yet. My memory like this is from the Challenger explosion. I was sitting in astronomy class as a college freshman. However like a previous poster, I too am intrigued by the Kennedy assassination even though it was before my time by about 2 years.

LanLord · November 22, 2011 6:19AM

I was in Mrs. Sorensen's Kindergarten class, I was playing the troll in Three Billygoats Gruff, when the principal entered the room to let us know what had happend.

Now, here is where the story gets interesting.

I was in Southern California (Santa Ana), and while walking to school the following Monday, several older kids pointed to a house along my route and said the guy that shot the President lived there.

I had no idea, so for the next 3 weeks or so I ran like hell past that house to and from school.

Ahh to be young and gullible again.

coinnut · November 22, 2011 6:21AM

I was in the 7th grade. Heard the news at school.

chocolatebayou · November 22, 2011 6:32AM

I was in the 5th grade. Ironically, my mother had taken me to Hobby airport in Houston to see him on the 21st. We stood on the curb right next to a stop sign and the convertible carrying he and Jackie stopped We yelled at them and they turned and waved. Who knew he would be dead less that 24hr later.

garrynot · November 22, 2011 6:36AM

I was in 4th grade. It was lunch time and we heard the announcement over the PA system.

I never get tired of seeing those photos.

GRANDAM · November 22, 2011 6:39AM

I was 5 1/2 yrs old.

Jackie sure looks in shock in the photo next LBJ when he is being sworn in

ricko · November 22, 2011 6:49AM

I was working in the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in NH, as a pipefitter, and when I left the ship to get a part, I heard the news in the pipe shop. Stunned. Cheers, RickO

ambro51 · November 22, 2011 6:56AM

Age 10 sitting in Mr. Haaks class....having just gotten my hunting license..I though JFK had been shot while he was out hunting.

the world changed that day. Ozzie and Harriet died along with JFK.

Bossman88 · November 22, 2011 7:24AM

Freshman in high school. Has been prime focus of my collecting since 64.

Regards, Larry

ziggy29 · November 22, 2011 8:22AM

Odd, but sad in a way, that back then people were distressed and in tears even when they weren't a huge fans of the man's politics. Today, half of the population would dance on the grave of a fallen political leader if they were in the "wrong" party. We truly live in different times.

lordmarcovan · November 22, 2011 8:29AM

It was my father's 25th birthday. He was teaching a class of fourth graders.

I was (-2) years old at the time.

PS- very interesting memorabilia in the OP, there.

beartracks42 · November 22, 2011 8:34AM

I was 21 yrs. old and my brother and I were hunting Pheasants near Washington Court House, Ohio. Could not believe it at the time and that was just the start of unbelievable things that have happened in this land since!

TwoSides2aCoin · November 22, 2011 8:38AM

I was in 3rd Grade. It gripped the nation for days.

kaz · November 22, 2011 8:40AM

I was in 2nd grade when the news came over the intercom. I think they sent us home.

Then I remember watching the funeral on our small b&w TV, and the riderless horse on the way to Arlington.

MercLovin · November 22, 2011 8:44AM

<< <i>Freshman in high school. Has been prime focus of my collecting since 64.

Regards, Larry

>>

These qualify for FS designation? lol

I'm 25, so the Kennedy assassination was well before my time.

OPA · November 22, 2011 9:01AM

20 year old stationed in Germany with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment about 20 miles from the Czech. border. All Units in Germany were placed on high alert, expecting the Russians to launch an attack across the Fulda gap. Yes, we did have a Draft in those days.

dpoole · November 22, 2011 9:02AM

I was in a Maryknoll Seminary in Glen Ellyn, Ill., freshman in college. It was lunch time, and the rector made the announcement that JFK had been shot. He hadn't died at that point.

We all had house chores to do, and I and two other guys were supposed to wash walls. I remember that tall, skinny guy and that short skinny guy dutifully went on to do their chore, while I played hookey and watched Walter Cronkite on TV, walk us through the disaster.

Such events were foreign to us and our idealistic times. We had no idea the historical tumult that would ensue, and that ensues even yet...

57loaded · November 22, 2011 9:14AM

1st grade. i remember the principal's message over the loudspeaker.

Cocoinut · November 22, 2011 9:25AM

I was between classes and on my way to a study hall in the 9th grade in Parma, Ohio. A few of the other kids were upset about something, but it wasn't until I got to the study hall that the school began feeding the radio through the PA system. Two priests had just gone into the hospital, and the conjecture was that they were going to give JFK the rites. About 20 minutes later, word came that Kennedy had died. One kid clapped when he heard the news, and the study hall monitor, one of the football coaches, went over, picked the kid up out of his seat, and threw him against the wall and shouted "He's the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!" The room was absolutely silent for a few minutes after that, except for the PA system.

Jim
'

etexmike · November 22, 2011 9:26AM

I was only in the 4th grade but remember exactly where I was and what I was doing at the time when I heard the news.

Mike

mayor1 · November 22, 2011 9:32AM

I had just finished Air Force basic training at Lackland AFB San Antonio, Texas. A bunch of us were all set to go find the SOB who had done this to our Commander in Chief.

PipestonePete · November 22, 2011 10:16AM

Bossman88, where did you get the Treasury Department set of Kennedy halves? That is a great piece.

On a side note.....if anyone is interested in reading perhaps the definitive telling of the Kennedy assassination, check out Vincent Bugliosi's "Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy". It is a HUGE book and includes chapters where he debunks every conspiracy theory out there. The best part of the book is the section which recounts the four days beginning with the assassination and concluding with Kennedy's funeral. It is virtually a minute by minute recounting of the events of those days matching up real timelines of all related events taking place in Dallas those four days. Bugliosi has recently released "Four Days in November" which is essentially that section of the book. Really, once you start this book you won't want put it down.

lordmarcovan · November 22, 2011 10:41AM

Been there, read that. The Bugliosi book, that is.

Well, OK, I didn't read the whole thing, cover to cover, but checked it out from the library once and read bits and pieces.

lkeigwin · November 22, 2011 10:53AM

Our 7th grade social studies teacher announced it to class. Even at that adolescent age we felt the shock and deep sadness. I walked home in a daze and found my tough-as-nails older brother crying in his bedroom.
Lance.

BigMoose · November 22, 2011 10:58AM

I was in Second Grade. We were sent home by the Nuns( parochial school ), who told us that something terrible happened to the President. I vividly remember sitting in front of the TV with my dad and watching Live as Ruby shot Oswald and all hell broke loose.

pocketpiececommems · November 22, 2011 11:34AM

I was a freshman in 5th hour Citizenship chass when 2 of the Seniors came in to tell us that President Kennedy had been shot. No PA system then. We came home from church on Sunday and saw Oswald get shot on live TV.

DennisH · November 22, 2011 11:45AM

I was in 3rd grade too, in Campo, California. The principal drove his VW convertible onto the dirt playground, put down the top, and turned on the radio. It seemed like everyone in the tiny school gathered around and listened in dead silence.

melvin289 · November 22, 2011 12:16PM

Freshman in high school on that day.

Ron

OnlyGoldIsMoney · November 22, 2011 12:17PM

I was in 3rd grade in Belleville, NJ. Early that afternoon someone came to our classroom and handed our teacher a note. Our teacher told us that in the event a President should die that the Vice President became the new President. I had never heard the name Lyndon Johnson before. I did not know what it all meant.

As we walked home from school the crossing guards told us that JFK had been killed - my brother remembers the guards were crying.

We spent that weekend watching the story unfold on television. I don't recall a single commercial. The only break from coverage was late Saturday night when a network ran a short film describing an imaginary journey through the solar system. I mostly remember a sadness that would not lift.

morgansforever · November 22, 2011 12:20PM

Born in 71, great man, great vision, some didn't see it that way.
Anyone have a U.S. note?

LotsoLuck · November 22, 2011 12:26PM

Still soiling myself.

morgansforever · November 22, 2011 1:02PM

On June 4, 1963, Executive Order 11110 was signed, with the authority to strip the Federal Reserve
Bank of its power to loan money to the United States at interest. Would we be better off without the Federal Reserve?
I guess the assasination of JFK was clear message, mess with the Fed and be eliminated. Wish Bear was here, RIP friend.

CoinJunkie · November 22, 2011 1:23PM

I was 4 years old, but I still remember my father coming home from work early. We didn't own
a TV, so we went to our neighbor's house to watch the news reports. It was clear to me,
even at that age, that something momentous had occurred.

November 22, 1963

Comments

Leave a Comment

Categories