It is hard to believe that it has been 50 years since that horrific day in Dallas. I have heard a number of stories from people relating what they were doing when they heard the appalling news flash from Texas. I would like to hear what some of you were doing and how you recall that day.
I will start because my personal experience was eerie! It was a Friday, of course, and I was enrolled in Art Institute of Pittsburgh. A friend and I decided to cut classes and get a start on the weekend. I picked her up and we had breakfast and were meandering around in my car as you could when gas was $.35 a gallon. Our travels took us to Wilkinsburg and East Hills Shopping Center. The center was best described as an "outdoor mall" with many shops on a number of streets and the center was contained by the surrounding parking lot.
The ironic thing was that the streets were named after US Presidents. We had the radio on and were listening to pop music. Carol said something to me and I turned the radio down, not off, to continue the conversation. We stopped at a stop sign in the mall that let shoppers go from the shopping area to their cars and I looked up at the "street" sign and it said, "James Garfield Way." I thought idly to myself, ' That was one of the Presidents that was assassinated.' We continued our drive and the conversation waned as we drove through Wilkinsburg on Penn Avenue. I noticed that the radio volume was down and I turned it up only to hear, "Governor Connally was also hit and was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital. Witnesses said there were multiple shots fired." I thought, "Wow, someone tried to assassinate Governor Connally, whoever he is." I had no idea he was Governor of Texas or that President Kennedy was in Texas. Then a confusing bunch of flashes started to come in and we were riveted to the radio. "Mrs. Kennedy was not hit." "Witnesses said the President was hit in the head." I pulled the car over to the curb on Fifth Avenue to listen and the next thing I heard (I believe it was Walter Cronkite) "This just in from Dallas. The President of the United States is dead!"
I cannot describe the shock we both felt. We went to her apartment to watch TV and spent most of that day getting the details. I say it was an eerie experience for me because, give or take 10 minutes either way, we were sitting at that stop sign at just about the exact time the shots were fired in Dallas. It is seared into my memory and I recall it as though it happened yesterday.
I will start because my personal experience was eerie! It was a Friday, of course, and I was enrolled in Art Institute of Pittsburgh. A friend and I decided to cut classes and get a start on the weekend. I picked her up and we had breakfast and were meandering around in my car as you could when gas was $.35 a gallon. Our travels took us to Wilkinsburg and East Hills Shopping Center. The center was best described as an "outdoor mall" with many shops on a number of streets and the center was contained by the surrounding parking lot.
The ironic thing was that the streets were named after US Presidents. We had the radio on and were listening to pop music. Carol said something to me and I turned the radio down, not off, to continue the conversation. We stopped at a stop sign in the mall that let shoppers go from the shopping area to their cars and I looked up at the "street" sign and it said, "James Garfield Way." I thought idly to myself, ' That was one of the Presidents that was assassinated.' We continued our drive and the conversation waned as we drove through Wilkinsburg on Penn Avenue. I noticed that the radio volume was down and I turned it up only to hear, "Governor Connally was also hit and was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital. Witnesses said there were multiple shots fired." I thought, "Wow, someone tried to assassinate Governor Connally, whoever he is." I had no idea he was Governor of Texas or that President Kennedy was in Texas. Then a confusing bunch of flashes started to come in and we were riveted to the radio. "Mrs. Kennedy was not hit." "Witnesses said the President was hit in the head." I pulled the car over to the curb on Fifth Avenue to listen and the next thing I heard (I believe it was Walter Cronkite) "This just in from Dallas. The President of the United States is dead!"
I cannot describe the shock we both felt. We went to her apartment to watch TV and spent most of that day getting the details. I say it was an eerie experience for me because, give or take 10 minutes either way, we were sitting at that stop sign at just about the exact time the shots were fired in Dallas. It is seared into my memory and I recall it as though it happened yesterday.
