Where were YOU when JFK bought it?

[Cardboard Junkie]

Let's try to keep it historical and avoid the politics, kapish?
As for me I was 12yo in 7th grade. One class the teacher told us the prez had been shot, the next class the principal announced his death. We were all sent home and had no school for the rest of the week.

[SmokyBurgess]

Similar story with me. Rode the bus home from school and went in and woke up my sleeping mom. Told her the President was dead.

She thought I had heard wrong and that Jackie K. was the one who was dead. But she investigated and found out it was indeed the President.

I don't really remember any details after that though. Just memories of waking up my mom with the bad news.

[Leon]

I was 2 so was probably tooling around in Houston peeing on myself. Give me about 30 more years and it will probably be the same thing again, only probably not Houston.

[EvilKing00]

I was born 11 years after he was shot.

[nolemmings]

When JFK was killed, I was not yet in Kindergarten and would have been home. I do distinctly recall that cartoons were not on TV that Saturday on any of the few channels then available, and that all of those channels seemed to be showing the same thing. I can still picture where the TV was in the living room (against North wall)and what it looked like, a huge freakin' console like this (taken off google images, sans DVD/VHS recorder obviously):

[HRBAKER]

Most likely sitting on the living room floor playing with my Tonka trucks.

[frankbmd]

Beneath our high school football stadium after a rain shortened practice looking madly for Gatorade that would not be invented for 3 years.

[Cardboard Junkie]

With the Vassar girl, Frank? Oh wait, that would have been a few years later, at the Holiday Inn. Dave

[barrysloate]

I was in the 6th grade, but was home from school that day with a cold. So I did not experience my classmates hearing about it together and being sent home.

I put the TV on after lunch and saw there was a bulletin. The first thing I heard was that Governor Connally was shot. Of course I never heard of him and had no idea who he was. Then a moment later I heard the news that Kennedy was shot. I remember yelling to my mother, who was downstairs, to turn on the TV. The rest of that weekend was a blur. I do however vividly remember when Lee Harvey Oswald was shot.

That's stuff you never forget.

[Bob Lemke]

I was in 6th grade. I was on Safety Patrol duty that noon hour and so was not in classroom when the principal made the announcement over the P.A.

I walked into a very quiet classroom and, noticing that a couple of the girls were crying, asked in a flippant tone, "Who died?"

We were all then hustled into church for a rosary, but I don't recall getting to go home early.

[GoldenAge50s]

I was 23 yrs old & got drafted into the Army Nov 20 1963. I was in my 2nd day of boot camp @ Ft Jackson SC. We were in a meeting room for some kind of orientation when a Capt came into the room & announced to all what had happened.

That weekend I had cleanup duty in the Hdqters Office so got to see alot of it unfold on TV. The day of the funeral there were special formations to attend & limited training.

Will never forget those 1st few days of service!

[thedutymon]

Morning,

I was 7 and still remember it, was sent home from school and I remember my Dad got home from work shortly after (He was sent home). I remember how angry he was..............years later I figured out why that was, it wasn't of course just because the President had been killed, he was his Brother in a sense, my Dad fought in WWII and Korea, and to him Kennedy was part of a as they say, a Band of Brothers although of course they never met....he was still part of his select group with a shared experience. I also remember how happy and elated he was when Oswald got smoked!!!

For three days we did nothing but watch TV, all 3 channels, that's all there was.

Neil

[powderfinger]

at St. Susanna's Roman Catholic Elementary in Harvey, Illinois. A great deal was made of the fact that JFK was the first Roman Catholic president in the country's history.

The principal, Sister Veronica, came into the room, whispered something into the ear of Miss Hanchar (the only teacher in the building that wasn't a nun) then turned to us and told us the president had been shot, but it wasn't known if he had died. The entire student population was taken to the church, and about a half hour later, the rosary was interrupted by the church pastor who had started the Catholic Prayer for the Dead. As soon as I heard the words, "Eternal rest grant unto him, oh Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him," I knew-we all knew-the president was gone. A lasting, indelible memory, caught in the mind of an 11-year-old.

[WhenItWasAHobby]

I was a few months away from turning 5 in a rural town in Western PA. I recall being outside playing and a girl across the street came up and told me that the president had been shot. I went inside and my mother was already watching the TV coverage. For the next 3 days that was all that was on TV. Without question one of the most striking memories of my childhood.

[drmondobueno]

It was another long day at Del Rosa Elementary, San Bernardino. I had transferred in a few weeks before and did not know too many of the kids. for some reason I cannot remember our teacher's name although we all liked him. He had a habit of losing his toupe and making us all laugh.

But that morning, a messenger came in with his clipboard, and we were informed the President had been shot in Dallas. That was all we were told. I remember the girl in font of me gasping in shock, covering her mouth. I was numb. When the messenger came back a little over an hour later, I think we all knew. A few people started crying, and our teacher sat down and said it would be all right if we wanted to pray.

A few days later, when Oswald was shot, all I could think is what was wrong with this country, where people could just indiscriminately shoot people, nobody was trying to stop these things from happening, it made no sense to me. Out of the mouth of babes.....

[RichardSimon]

I was in my college hallway when a female student came running down the hallway screaming as loud as she could: "every President that has been elected in a zero year has died in office." She screamed this over and over. We all looked at her like she was crazy then walked into our classrooms. Someone (don't remember who, student? prof?) then told us what happened but our professor would not dismiss us, though every other class was dismissed.

[Ease]

Originally Posted by RichardSimon

our professor would not dismiss us, though every other class was dismissed.

Did the prof just continue on with class?!?!

[RichardSimon]

Originally Posted by Ease

Did the prof just continue on with class?!?!

Yes he did, despite the major eruption in the hallway.
What a jerk he was, long before the assassination we all thought he was an ass. Unprepared, hard to understand, nasty, ugh.