JFK and History

November 21, 2013 — 5 Comments

When I returned to Oakmont, PA this year to see my old friends from childhood I was not thinking about politics or history. I was intrigued to find out what my old home and school looked like, and how my old friends are today.  The reunion was a resounding success and a big memory jog.  We toured the school where I attended grades K-4, then returned for 7-8th grades.  I left after the 8th grade to live in Venezuela as a petroleum princess.  This week as we watch the footage and remember where we were when we heard the news JFK had been shot I can clearly picture it.  We were in the gym, which had a large dividing wall between the girls and boys for the hour. When we finished the wall was always removed at the end of the school day.  On that day when the wall was parted and we saw they boys we were also listening to the loudspeaker system announce to use that the president had been shot in Dallas.  It was surreal and many of us started to cry.  I am not sure if I cried or not, but I remember being in shock.  We talked about it when we were on tour of the school and I had almost a flashback of the feeling on that day.  We went home and learned that he had died.  My parents did not vote for him but they were very upset about the assassination.  After 50 years we all have a chance to process what happened to us and to the world on that day in Dallas.  We may have been 8th graders but we all had mature feelings about the frightful news about our country.