50th Anniversary of the deaths of John F. Kennedy and C.S. Lewis.

[Cybermat47]

R.I.P. sirs

[Betonov]

I like Kennedy, he gave us locomotives to further boost our booming industry under Tito
I wish Obama would give us some now when we're broke

And R.I.P. to Lewis, a good writer is a luxury

[Jimbuna]

Two very different characters who both left their mark in history for different reasons.

[vienna]

I have been thinking lately of the assassination and what it was like on that day. I was 12 years old, looking forward to my 13th birthday, about three weeks away, when I would 'officially' become a teenager. I was in school on 11/22/63. It was a Catholic school and we were all in the middle of morning classes when the Mother Superior's voice came on over the intercom. She was speaking in a very shaken voice and she told us Kennedy had been shot and we should all pray for him and his family. THe whole class was in a state of shock and some of the kids started to cry. The nun teaching our class just burst out in tears, grabbed her rosary, and started to pray in a whispered voice. We all just sat there, all in silence except for the sound of sobbing form some of the kids. A short while later, the Mother Superior came back on the intercom and, in a voice filled with grief, announced the news just in that Kennedy was dead. She told us school was over for the day and we were all to go home. As I walked home in a bit of a dazed haze, I noticed how still and empty the streets were; there were very, very few people or cars visible. I woulod never see that sort of shock and silence again until 9/11/01...


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[u crank]

Originally Posted by vienna

I have been thinking lately of the assassination and what it was like on that day. I was 12 years old, looking forward to my 13th birthday, about three weeks away, when I would 'officially' become a teenager.

Interesting. I was 13 years old and I remember it very well. I came from a Catholic family, although not very devout. It was the only time we ever prayed together as a family in our home. I think my Dad, who was in the Canadian military at the time was pretty shook up by it. He liked Kennedy.

We also got the day off school for his funeral.

[vienna]

We also got the day off Monday from school, but we still had to attend mandatory Sunday Mass. I missed seeing Oswald being shot, live. When I got home, my mother was in a mixture of mourning for Kennedy and elation because Oswald "got what he deserved"...

One other memory I have is what happened the day after the assassination. There was a comedian/impressionist by the name of Vaughn Meader who did a spot-on impersonation of Kennedy's voice and he was very populsr at the time, appearing on TV and radio and releasing a wildly popular comedy album spoofing the First Family. I used to be a fairly good mimic and would do my version of the Meader routines for my friends and classmates. The day after the assassination, I was sitting on the top step of the stairs leading up to my house, still very much in a daze of shock. A girl who lived down the street, and who attended the same school and class I attended, was walking down the sidewalk when she saw me sitting there, stopped, became extremely angry and shouted at me "Damn you and your impersonations!!" She then storrmed off down the street. I would never have expected such an outburst from a nice girl like her and certainly not even the mild profanity. I never did my impression again and, even at my young age, I fully understood and appreciated where her anger and rage was coming from; if I had known a few more curse words, I would have also damned myself...


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