The Daily News asked readers to share their memories of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Here they are, in their own words:
“We lived in Dallas at the time of his death. I was in Garland, a suburb of Dallas, when I got the news. I immediately headed for home, some 10 miles away. Everything had come to a complete stop. There was no traffic, the schools and businesses had closed and everyone was in their home. It seemed like the outside world had come to an end, a feeling I’ve never forgotten.” — Bill Christiansen, Destin
“My husband was in the submarine service, and we were stationed in Hawaii. My daughter was almost 4 years old. I was taking her to school, and it came on the radio. I started crying, and she had never seen me crying. She has always remembered that.” — Bettie Downing, Niceville
“I was 14. I lived on 16th Street in Birmingham. We were just out playing and one of my cousins ran through the alley and said they’d shot the president. Everybody stopped whatever they were doing. … President Kennedy was everybody’s hero back then. It was so difficult. That day changed our lives.” — Elaine Tellis Parker, Navarre
“On the day President Kennedy was assassinated, I was a freshman at Florida State University. I was in a dance class when a person ran into the class to tell us that President Kennedy had been shot. The class was dismissed and we all ran out onto the campus. I saw students running all over the campus crying and some even had already put on black arm bands. I remember just having such a devastating feeling that we were all involved in. I still remember this as if it yesterday.” — Anna Peele, Mary Esther
“I was almost 6 years old at this time. … I had seen the footage where our president had suddenly stopped waving and smiling. … I saw where he slumped over, splattering blood on Mrs. Kennedy and on her pretty dress. Then it hit me! I realized that the little girl Caroline did not have (a) smiling, waving daddy anymore. This was my first experience with death of someone loved and admired.” — Janet K. Morton, Niceville
“I was in the third grade in Cabin John, M.D. I remember we heard at school. It was just a shock.” — Charlene Miller, Santa Rosa Beach
“I was a 26-year-old Army captain commanding the U.S. Army Garrison. … I well-remember the fear, sadness, and battle anticipation as we stood by for further orders. A number of us were heartbroken as we had gone to great lengths to see President Kennedy when he visited Frankfurt just a few weeks before. After a few hours, I was told to release my command and life did return to some degree of normalcy. However, I can still remember the crushing depth of sorrow amid tears of sadness in the following days as we grieved over the loss of our president. These terribly sad memories of Nov. 22, 1963, and the days thereafter I will carry with me to my grave.” — Leo Weeks, Navarre
“We were Air Force, stationed at Tachikowa AFB, Japan, outside of Tokyo. My husband Robert Kennedy was at work, called to tell me the news. The base was on alert, no one knew if it was terrorism, and he didn’t know when he would get home. … The Japanese people showed us kindness and respect when we were far from home and grieving.” — Judi Kennedy, Niceville
“I was in Mrs. Helpling’s third-grade class at Littlewood Elementary in Gainesville. The teachers were called up to the office and told that the president had been shot. School was then dismissed. We watched the TV coverage of each event as they unfolded. At the same time my Gramps was dying. He died on Nov. 25, 1963, the same day JFK was buried. During this time I got tonsillitis and could not go to my Gramps’ funeral, so I watched President Kennedy’s. … JFK may have been the King of America’s Camelot, but my Gramps was the king of my heart. A double dose of sadness for me every year.” — Cathy Ross Rickard, Niceville
“I was 21, working on a music degree, and was in the middle of a piano lesson at a music conservatory in Bangor, Maine, when a knock on the door brought a fellow student to inform the teacher and me that the president had been shot. At the time, we all thought he was still alive, so, finishing my lesson, I went out to a hairdresser’s shop in a nearby large department store to get my hair done as planned for what was to be an exciting evening for me, having just been hired to play dinner music at a local Air Force base’s Officers’ Club. I remember that by the time my hair was dry and she was starting to style it, I heard waves of conversation in the distance, and they gradually grew louder as the news got closer to my hairdresser’s workstation: “He’s dead! Kennedy is dead! The president has been assassinated!” I turned to my hairdresser and said, “Don’t even bother with a comb-out. I won’t be playing music anywhere tonight.” I paid her and left for home, gluing myself to the family TV, along with millions of other people that awful weekend.” — Kathy Powell, Fort Walton Beach
“I was in the fourth-grade at Selwyn Elementary School, Charlotte, N.C. There were no announcements over the loudspeaker. I remember mother picked us up from school and told us the president had been shot. I don’t think the country knew he had died at that point. It was all over the news and confusing for all of the children back then. We only had black-and- white television with rabbit ears. My older sister was a huge fan of Kennedy and she was a senior in high school. My father was not a fan of the president but he was taken aback by his death. We lost so many others after that: Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. It was a frightening era.” — Jackie Pilcher, Fort Walton Beach
“I vividly remember getting the news during our PE class at Montvale High School, Montvale, Va. … I was 15 years old and a freshman. It was a nice day in this farming area about halfway between Roanoke and Bedford. Coach Cassell came out on the ball field where we were playing softball and announced ‘Men, President Kennedy has been assassinated.’ … We didn’t get any more information except that school was closing early and the buses were lining up out front. I went to work as I did every day after school, and it wasn’t until I got home later that I saw the details of the assassination on our black and white TV.” — Jim Bohon, Niceville
“I lived in Miami and attended Miami Palmetto High School. I was in a TV history class, which was held in the auditorium where TV monitors were stationed throughout. The class was interrupted. … I remember havoc broke out. Everyone was stunned. The girls were screaming and crying. The guys were more composed, but shocked. The bizarre happenings over the following days, where the assassinator was assassinated, topped off the tragic mess. Hollywood couldn't have scripted this plot. — Bill Pullum, Navarre
“I was living at Clark AFB in the Philippines on Nov. 22, 1963, where my father was stationed with the USAF. My dad worked in communications and had worked the night shift. Because of the time change, it was very early Saturday morning when he heard the news of the assassination. … I remember that even the Filipinos were saddened because he was the first Catholic American president. Though it’s been 50 years ago, it seems like just yesterday.” — Jo Anne Roseland, Niceville