In 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy, 46 and in the third year of his first term, was assassinated during a motorcade in Dallas.I know other stuff happened. But none of it really mattered. I was a toddler, but I know from family stories that my mother was bringing Grace and I home from our grandmother's house. As she walked through Monument Square, pushing Grace in a carriage, she heard the news from a radio playing in a house she was passing. It wouldn't have been warm enough to normally have your windows open, so that person must have done it simply for people to hear the tragic news.
My whole life, this is all this day has ever meant to me. If you grew up in Boston, much less Charlestown, especially educated by nuns.......there was nothing else that mattered.
It is the other day seared into my memory. I remember the song that was playing on the radio. I was at my Grandmother's because we had 1/2 day of school (Teacher Meeting). Take it from me, it was not good to be alone just then.
ReplyDeleteThe death of JFK was one of only three times I ever saw my Father cry.
SB
I was kept home from kindergarten, and I remember that my parents were in shock - Mom cried a lot. I didn't really understand what had happened, except that our whole neighborhood was stunned.
ReplyDeleteI do remember clearly the image of the horse drawn carriage taking President Kennedy to his final resting place, and little John-John saluting the casket. That made my Mom cry even more.
Nice read all, thatks for sharing
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