11/22/63 Where Were You When You Heard President Kennedy Was Assassinated?

That’s what I asked this morning of those who are old enough to remember what they were doing on the 48th anniversary of the president’s assassination.
 
Our Lady of the North shared this:

“I was in grade 6, Mrs. Patterson's class, at Willows Elementary (Victoria). Our principal came on over the PA system with the news (I think part of the radio broadcast was played for us), and Mrs. Patterson started crying, something very unusual indeed. School was dismissed early and we were all sent home (those were the days when mothers could be counted on to be there to receive us!). Later that day I remember going for groceries at the local shopping centre with my mom, and it was all people were talking about...that day, and for many days afterwards, everywhere I went.

Do you think this same scene would have played out in Seattle if Canada's prime minister had been assassinated?  :) “

As for me, I was in Honolulu, early Friday morning before the big homecoming football weekend. We were assembled in chapel (all-boys prep school) and told. This was the second time I remember really praying; the first time only a year or so earlier when we had been assembled during the Cuban missile crisis. Thank goodness there were adults around to explain to some of the kids why all the football games were going to be cancelled that weekend. Then the weekend of television: Jack Ruby killing Lee Harvey Oswald, the president lying in state, the funeral march. Thus, I was welcomed to growing up in the ‘60s.

Depending on how old we are and where we grew up, we have ‘defining events’ in our coming of age. What ‘defined’ yours?

--Mike Sato