Where were you when JFK died?

Students honor JFK on Nov. 22, 1963 on campus of South High School,
Torrance, California

It's been 48 years today since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas. I was a 15-year-old sophomore in Tallmadge Wilson's English class when I heard the news. Here are my recollections:

The commotion in the hallway was the first indication that something was wrong that November 22nd morning in 1963. Students and teachers seemed to appear in the hallway all at once -- girls were crying and some were screaming  "the President's been shot." It was chaotic.

What a rude awakening from the pronouns and adverbs of my sleepy third-period class at South High School in Torrance, Calif. And what an introduction to the harsh and cruel side of life. Until then, my small world as a 15 year old had been surfing, playing music and having fun with friends and family.

After those initial moments of confusion and uncertainty on campus, we began to learn more details of events as they unfolded in Texas. Things on campus calmed down, but it all seemed so unbelievable . . . surrealistic. There were no televisions or radios in classrooms then, so details were passed by word of mouth and loudspeaker. We soon learned the president had died.

Not long after the classrooms were emptied. Students, teachers and staff gathered around the flagpole on the campus lawn. In the hush, the flag was lowered slowly to half staff in honor of President Kennedy. We stood in silence for many minutes, and then students were dismissed to go home.

Note: The photo above was taken during the flag ceremony . . . students circling the flagpole, many deep in thought with heads bowed. A colleague on the student newspaper "Sword and Shield" captured the historic event with his camera. (A flag ceremony on the OLCC campus on Sept. 11, 2001 was eerily similar to that day in 1963).

Schools were closed for three days while the nation was in mourning . Except for one or two religious movies, our black and white televisions showed non-stop assassination news, JFK’s funeral and then, the horrible on-camera murder of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Innocence lost, I guess. Just three years earlier, I’d pedaled my bicycle to the local Kennedy for President election office and picked up some campaign bumper stickers and buttons for my room.

I was really too young then to understand the meaning of it all, but I was aware that this was an important event in U.S. history.
 
I’ve been interested in the JFK assassination ever since and have read many books (and DVDs) on the subject.