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Fellow eldergays, tomorrow is the 57th anniversary of one of the most memorable events in our lives

Please share your recollections to enlighten those who came after us.

by Anonymousreply 69November 24, 2020 2:17 PM

I was in 6th grade. School closed early. "The President's been killed" was announced in class and it was if the world was ending or the Communists had invaded.

by Anonymousreply 1November 22, 2020 12:20 AM

[quote]I was in 6th grade.

#MeToo

by Anonymousreply 2November 22, 2020 12:54 AM

Ur old.

by Anonymousreply 3November 22, 2020 12:59 AM

Though I was yet to be born, those fatal shots still resonate!

by Anonymousreply 4November 22, 2020 1:22 AM

I played "Be My Baby" over and over on my 45 player so many times that weekend, my mother bought me a new stereo and records for Christmas, so I could play albums. She got me a Motorola suitcase stereo, plus one album by Skeeter Davis, two by the Beach Boys, and two by Lesley Gore. She did not buy me the Phil Spector Christmas album.

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by Anonymousreply 5November 22, 2020 2:28 AM

Do we think it could happen again?

Perhaps in the next 2 weeks?

by Anonymousreply 6November 22, 2020 2:32 AM

Mother was mopping the kitchen floor when they interrupted As The World Turns for the news.

by Anonymousreply 7November 22, 2020 2:42 AM

I was in school and the nun announced the shooting over the school intercom. We all prayed and then the announcement came that he had died. All the classes walked over to the church to pray. I don't remember if there was a mass or just prayers.

My father had just come back from out of town in Huntsville, Ala for the space program (he worked at the Cape) and my mom had been at the movies. We were glued to the TV. Sunday I decided not to go to Mass with my family so I was home watching the TV when Oswald was shot live on TV.

by Anonymousreply 8November 22, 2020 2:49 AM

Sent home from fourth grade to find my mother sobbing on the sofa. I remember this was the last year for our aluminum Christmas tree. We moved to a new house in January 1964. It seemed like the whole world had changed in a matter of weeks. New house, new school, new friends. The Beatles, and new color TV, it was like landing in OZ .

by Anonymousreply 9November 22, 2020 2:52 AM

I was in my daddy’s balls.

by Anonymousreply 10November 22, 2020 2:54 AM

I was still a week away from my first birthday. Meanwhile...

The cast and crew were on location in Hawaii filming the pilot for Gilligan's Island.

by Anonymousreply 11November 22, 2020 2:58 AM

I was 11 months old , shopping with my grandmother and her housekeeper at the UTWWs Piggly Wiggly on Vineville in Macon , Ga. They announced it over the intercom. The housekeeper threw me to my Grandmother ( Republican) The housekeeper ran out and pulled her rosary beads and started praying. My Grandmother kept shopping.

by Anonymousreply 12November 22, 2020 3:05 AM

Yes, R7!

I was in first grade. They did not tell us anything except that we were ending early and if a parent came to get us we could go home. My mother came to school. Driving home she that someone had shot President Kennedy and that everyone would wait at home to learn more. When we got home, I saw that she had been painting the family room. She went back to painting until they interrupted "As the World Turns."

"That's it. If they are interrupting the stories, he's dead." And she was right. I didn't know what any of this meant, but I was impressed that my mother did.

by Anonymousreply 13November 22, 2020 3:14 AM

My grandma was watching WT, too. I think Nancy was trying to decide whether to invite Lisa for Thanksgiving.

by Anonymousreply 14November 22, 2020 3:16 AM

I was fucking the lifeguard in one of the pool cabanas at the Ambassador Hotel when the news came over the radio. So did the lifeguard when I shoved my finger up his ass.

by Anonymousreply 15November 22, 2020 3:17 AM

R15 wins!

by Anonymousreply 16November 22, 2020 3:19 AM

The Sunday after JFK was killed was my 8th birthday. The only thing I remember from that day was sitting on the couch watching the news and seeing Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald.

by Anonymousreply 17November 22, 2020 3:24 AM

[quote] Sent home from fourth grade to find my mother sobbing on the sofa. I remember this was the last year for our aluminum Christmas tree. We moved to a new house in January 1964. It seemed like the whole world had changed in a matter of weeks. New house, new school, new friends. The Beatles, and new color TV, it was like landing in OZ .

R9, LOL! We had an aluminum tree in those years as well. We kids always protested but my mother grew up in NYC and was always afraid of fires and she thought a natural tree was a fire hazard. She also really liked MCM designs and it was artfully decorated with just turquoise and gold balls but of course I had no idea what MCM was then.

The changes that came so shortly after the assassination now seem like a lovely present in the aftermath of a really sorrowful time. The Beatles brought such light hearted joy that it seemed to lift that heaviness. We were so open to all that fun in music and fashion and irreverence.

by Anonymousreply 18November 22, 2020 3:38 AM

The Bostin Strangler was active then. He apparently strangled one woman who was at home (alone) on that Sunday watching JFK's funeral.

by Anonymousreply 19November 22, 2020 3:43 AM

I was 18 + years away from birth, but my mom has always told me it was the very moment she felt "alive". )Much like I would in Jan 86 when the Challenger blew up when I was six).

by Anonymousreply 20November 22, 2020 8:42 AM

I was there but not really.

by Anonymousreply 21November 22, 2020 9:27 AM

After our first grade teacher left the room in tears, I told my Detroit classmates who were all seated on the floor with me that this news meant that Rockefeller would be president!

by Anonymousreply 22November 22, 2020 12:40 PM

The man in the doorway is a hot daddy

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by Anonymousreply 23November 22, 2020 12:51 PM

Where is Lee Harvey Oswald when we need him?

For that matter, where is Madame Defarge?

by Anonymousreply 24November 22, 2020 12:55 PM

The DLer at r23 is blind.

by Anonymousreply 25November 22, 2020 12:59 PM

My mother was bringing in a fairly negative report card home, and her father (my grandfather) signed without looking as he was hooked on to the TV.

by Anonymousreply 26November 22, 2020 1:20 PM

57 years ago, OP's ma crapped him out of her rectal cavity. Her asshole still smarts from that unfortunate event.

by Anonymousreply 27November 22, 2020 1:24 PM

I was in 6th grade too. Linda C burst into my classroom and announced, “The President is dead!”. My teacher started to cry.

by Anonymousreply 28November 22, 2020 1:45 PM

Mom was 4 months pregnant with me and drank and smoke out of stress so I was born jaundiced with fetal alcohol syndrome.

by Anonymousreply 29November 22, 2020 1:52 PM

I was 8, living in Yemen where my father was a diplomat. We learned of it the next day when we woke up and heard about it on the shortwave radio (VOA and BBC), which was the only communication we had (no TV or local radio, or telephone, at that time). Since the mail took forever to get there, it was a week before we received copies of the newspapers and LIFE magazine so that we could see photos.

About six months later, a 16-mm film called "Years of Lightning, Days of Drums" was distributed to the US Embassy through the USIA, and we went there to watch it projected onto a blank wall. It was the first time we saw moving pictures of the whole thing. I cried and cried.

Things were very different back then, especially if you were living in one of the world's most backward places. It was pretty much medieval in Yemen at the time. I would have preferred being a kid in suburban America, but now I appreciate how different it was.

by Anonymousreply 30November 22, 2020 2:20 PM

R20, math isn’t your strong point, is it honey?

by Anonymousreply 31November 22, 2020 2:28 PM

I was in first grade and I can honestly saw I don't remember how the school handled it. I grew up in CA so the announcement would've come before lunch, but I don't remember if there was an assembly or what. Years later my mother told me she cried at the thought of her children having learned what 'assassination' meant from having lived through one, rather than reading about it in a history book.

I do remember being furious that my Saturday morning cartoons were all pre-empted.

For me personally, I do not associate JFK, RFK, or MLK's assassination with the loss of innocence of which so many people speak. For me that came with assassination of George Moscone and Harvey Milk on 11/27/78. Maybe because I was older, or because I lived in SF, or perhaps because it finally seemed like we were breaking through vis a vis gay representation, but losing those two men felt like more of a blow than the earlier killings.

by Anonymousreply 32November 22, 2020 2:50 PM

In Assassins, Sondheim wrote a song about the moment Kennedy was shot and the reactions of everyday people as they hear the news.

It’s like this thread set to music.

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by Anonymousreply 33November 22, 2020 2:53 PM

R32 Interesting post. I'm not of that generation (born in 1978), so I associate loss of innocence more with the Challenger disaster, Khomeini, and possibly the Klaus Barbie trial as well.

The Challenger disaster is something I have a very hard time accepting.

by Anonymousreply 34November 22, 2020 2:56 PM

I was an infant in the crib. My Mom was washing the car in the driveway, when a neighbor came out and told her. My parents said everyone sat glued to their television sets the entire weekend and saw Jack Ruby shoot Oswald.

by Anonymousreply 35November 22, 2020 3:05 PM

CNN’s website has always recognized the anniversary by featuring it prominently in an article each year. Interestingly, this year they have nothing. 😕

by Anonymousreply 36November 22, 2020 3:08 PM

[quote]My parents said everyone sat glued to their television sets the entire weekend and saw Jack Ruby shoot Oswald.

I remember seeing it on TV right after Mass that Sunday. My mother started shrieking about how it would cause me "permanent psychological damage."

by Anonymousreply 37November 22, 2020 3:09 PM
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by Anonymousreply 38November 22, 2020 3:10 PM

[quote]My mother started shrieking about how it would cause me "permanent psychological damage."

Well, don't keep us in suspense-- was she right?

by Anonymousreply 39November 22, 2020 3:16 PM

I had the children sing "Rissledy Rossledy", then told them to walk quietly home. But they... they-

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by Anonymousreply 40November 22, 2020 3:28 PM

R30 what was Yemen like?

Are the men hot there? LOL

by Anonymousreply 41November 22, 2020 3:41 PM

I was only 2 when it happened so I don't remember it. I do remember though being taught in school that he was a good man. And because of being taught that I also remember, when I was 8 or so what bad people are because I learned rednecks laughed when he died.

by Anonymousreply 42November 22, 2020 3:53 PM

Since R37 is on DL, do you need to ask?

by Anonymousreply 43November 22, 2020 4:30 PM

That Sondheim song suports Howard Stern's take on Broadway musicals.

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by Anonymousreply 44November 22, 2020 5:08 PM

I was in 3rd grade we were all outside for recess listening to a radio that a kid brought for show-and-tell, so the students/teachers all heard the news on this kid's radio for the first time together. We were all rushed into the auditorium where we were instructed to go immediately home, "quickly and quietly". So we did. I always found that odd that we had to go home "quietly", could the impending nukes hear us?

@r24, "Where is Lee Harvey Oswald when we need him? "

Yep, back in my day we knew how to deal with a president we didn't like ;-) /s

by Anonymousreply 45November 22, 2020 5:13 PM

We didn't need to do anything but vote. America said 'no' to Trump.

by Anonymousreply 46November 22, 2020 5:38 PM

Fun fact: DL fave Nicollette Sheridan was born the day before the assassination.

by Anonymousreply 47November 22, 2020 6:23 PM

I was born January 64 and 10% of my classmates were born the day JFK was shot, or the following day. Such was the shock of the assassination that their moms went into premature labor.

by Anonymousreply 48November 22, 2020 6:28 PM

I told cook to prepare cervelle de veau for supper that evening.

by Anonymousreply 49November 22, 2020 11:21 PM

[quote]America said 'no' to Trump.

We said 'no' in 2016, too. How'd that work out for us?

by Anonymousreply 50November 23, 2020 12:14 AM

I was 11 and walking back to my Catholic grade school following lunch. (We went home for lunch in those days.) The kid across the street, who I hated for some reason, was walking parallel down his side of the street when he yelled over to me "Somebody shot the president". I hadn't heard the news yet and for whatever reason yelled back "Did not, you liar!" When we returned to the classroom we could see all the nuns in the hallway, huddled together, and could sense something was wrong. (Some kid said the pope had died.)

They gave us some busy work to do while the nuns continued to confer out in the hall. Finally the principal came on the loud speaker and told us we were to go home, walking silently in single file. (I assume they didn't want clueless kids running and laughing down the sidewalk.) I was glued to TV the rest of the week and was watching when Ruby shot Oswald.

As a gayling I remember being crushed that handsome JFK and beautiful Jackie were being replaced by LBJ and Lady Bird.

by Anonymousreply 51November 23, 2020 5:05 PM

[quote] As a gayling I remember being crushed that handsome JFK and beautiful Jackie were being replaced by LBJ and Lady Bird.

Mrs Vice President Johnson [italic]did[/italic] try to be a bit glamorous, bless her heart.

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by Anonymousreply 52November 23, 2020 6:06 PM

I was in first grade. I remember nothing about what happened in school or how I got home. But I do remember my mother crying. The weird detail that sticks in my mind is just sitting on the floor in front of the tv watching the news for hours, maybe not really watching it, but blurred gray images from the news are still in my mind. The news images, and sitting in front of that tv that seemed three times as big as I was, you know, a giant piece of wood furniture with that semi-shiny gold cloth covering the speakers. And I remember how somber things were in my house for days afterwards.

by Anonymousreply 53November 23, 2020 6:19 PM

I, too, returned home (thinking I would spring the news) to find my Mother crying, in bed. It would be many years before I learned that she had been one of Jack's lovers.

by Anonymousreply 54November 23, 2020 7:45 PM

Lady Bird Johnson was not the only “glamorous” one. Remember when Lynda Bird dated George Hamilton?

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by Anonymousreply 55November 23, 2020 7:50 PM

The first ever episode of Doctor Who? Love that programme. Tom Baker is my favourite.

by Anonymousreply 56November 23, 2020 8:53 PM

A Friday in 7th grade, last period it was announced that we were dismissed due to the president being shot. We weren't told he was dead. I found out when I got on the bus and someone had a transistor radio. I lived in the Boston area and people were devastated. I was pissed off, I really liked JFK.

by Anonymousreply 57November 23, 2020 9:02 PM

r8 did they interrupt your mother's movie or jest let people know when they departed? I imagine some dramatic scene like in the movie Lincoln.

by Anonymousreply 58November 23, 2020 9:06 PM

I watched Oswald's murder by Jack Ruby, just a couple of days after Oswald shot Kennedy. It was the first live murder I saw on tv, but sadly not the last.

by Anonymousreply 59November 23, 2020 10:08 PM

I was three days old. I remember urinating in my diaper, and being startled by a dog barking, which caused me to cry.

by Anonymousreply 60November 23, 2020 10:18 PM

You all had it easy r34, mine was 9/11. Watch a couple thousand people die on repeat. The when I was 18, hearing about Michael Jackson dying. The last one really hurt.

by Anonymousreply 61November 23, 2020 11:26 PM

r57 I'd love to hear more about how Boston or MA handled his death.

by Anonymousreply 62November 23, 2020 11:30 PM

The state funeral.

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by Anonymousreply 63November 23, 2020 11:35 PM

I went to school in the Boston area. They let us out early (10th grade), but no mention of why. On my way home, I stopped off at my local drug store (where I had been going since I was 5 years old) to get a fountain soda. I heard the two owners of the store quietly discussing something that was obviously disturbing to them. I asked them what was wrong? You could see the look in their eyes wondering what they should tell this "kid". They calmly told me the whole story (Kennedy had been pronounced dead by then). From that day forward, I was never a kid again in their eyes.

by Anonymousreply 64November 23, 2020 11:49 PM

I was in 3rd grade. I don't know how I felt. I wrote an extremely dull, hackneyed poem about it and the teacher said she'd get it published, but she didn't. Ruined my entire literary career. Thanks, cunt!

by Anonymousreply 65November 23, 2020 11:54 PM

I was in 3rd grade. I don't know how I felt. I wrote an extremely dull, hackneyed poem about it and the teacher said she'd get it published, but she didn't. Ruined my entire literary career. Thanks, cunt!

by Anonymousreply 66November 23, 2020 11:54 PM

It must have made Thanksgiving suck, also, but I don't remember.

by Anonymousreply 67November 23, 2020 11:55 PM

I found out about this during class and was shocked. I walked aimlessly after school and kept wondering “why did god let this happen??” and also that I really missed my father (who was never a part of my life) Eventually I got home and took solace in the arms of the really good looking caretaker from the convent next door who was equally devastated and mentioned the indian ways of the previous caretaker and that “the world’s gone crazy” I immediately jumped his bones till my catholic guilt got the best of me, eventhough (technically) I am jewish.

by Anonymousreply 68November 24, 2020 12:17 AM

[quote] I'd love to hear more about how Boston or MA handled his death.

I can't comment on Boston, but In looking at old NY Times archives, some stores and offices closed upon hearing the news, others didn't. Stores did turn off their Christmas decorations, and some curtained off their display windows, replacing them with a flag and a photograph of the president . Most Sunday and Monday advertising was replaced with black-bordered memorials. On Monday, most stores were closed, however supermarkets were only closed until 2.

According to the Times, Broadway shows, and other events, were cancelled on Friday and again on Monday. I couldn't tell if shows performed on Saturday or not, it must've been very surreal to be sitting in the audience of, say, HOW TO SUCCEED and trying to concentrate on the comedy going on onstage, given what just happened. (According to Peter Filicia, the musical HERE'S LOVE changed the lyric "JFK to U.S. Steel" to "CIA to U.S. Steel" after the assassination.)

by Anonymousreply 69November 24, 2020 2:17 PM
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