President Kennedy Assassinated (Nov. 22, 1963)

I was in the first grade at Fenton Elementary School in the Pittsburgh suburb of McKees Rocks. It was Friday afternoon and I had walked back to school after having lunch at home. My classmates & I waited for our teacher, Mrs. Follie, to arrive but for some unknown reason we waited an unusually long time for her (this was too good to be true!). Finally, she walked in and told us the news that President Kennedy had been shot and that we could go home. Although I was aware this was an awful event I don't recall feeling any strong emotions (hey, I was just 6 years old!). However, befitting the event, it was an overcast afternoon which added to the somberness of the walk home. While waiting for my father to return from work, I remember sitting on the sofa in the living room and paging through my mother's December issue of Good Housekeeping that had arrived earlier that afternoon. On the cover was a little girl holding a large Santa lollipop. Although its festive nature was incongruous with that day's tragedy, it was a nice escape for a young child.

Just two days later the nation witnessed the shooting death of accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV. It was just after noon and my family was eating Sunday lunch. The TV was on in the background in the living room because my father, a football fanatic, insisted on watching the NFL game that was being broadcast. The telecast was interrupted by coverage of Oswald being brought into police headquarters in Dallas. As he was being walked in, surrounded by detectives, a man named Jack Ruby jumped out of the crowd and shot Oswald in the stomach. I didn’t see it because my seat at the dinner table was obstructed by a wall that blocked my view into the living room. But I heard the commotion and saw the reaction of my parents. This was very likely the most shocking event ever seen on live TV until 9/11 when millions saw the 2nd plane (United Flight 175) crash into the 2nd tower of the World Trade Center.

Because of these events, for a long time I viewed Dallas (and Texas in general) as an evil place, not unlike enemy territory such as Red China, and it took a long time for me to shake this feeling.