.

4 years, 11 months, 10 days on OS__________________________

designanator

designanator
Location
New York, New York,
Birthday
April 22

MY RECENT POSTS

MY RECENT COMMENTS

Designanator's Links

MY LINKS
NOVEMBER 22, 2012 9:38PM

Rare to have Thanksgiving and JFK anniversary on same day

Rate: 5 Flag

 

I was so wrapped up in Thanksgiving earlier today that I forgot that today is the 22nd which means another anniversary of JFK's assassination. With next year being 2013 we'll hit the 50 year mark on that sad anniversary. I can't recall being aware of Thanksgiving and the JFK assassination anniversary falling on the same day before, but I'm sure I been through quite a few of them and just didn't give it any thought at the time.

Over the years I have traded stories with friends about where they were when the tragedy unfolded. Most were in school and some spoke of being assembled in the school auditorium with a TV set on the stage. In my case I was home with a bad cold and happened to be watching a movie on one of the NY City stations when the movie was interrupted with the announcement. I stayed glued to the TV for the next few days. The 22nd that year fell on a Friday which meant the entire weekend was continuous coverage of the constantly breaking news.

It was several months earlier in '63 when my wife encountered Caroline and "John-John" Kennedy at a friend's birthday party in Palm Beach.  She has a photo of the entire group that day that was taken by a professional photographer and the photo has never been published that we are aware of. Caroline came up to my wife during the party and asked my wife what her father did for a living. After my wife replied, Caroline said her father "was the President." My in-laws also were invited to a dinner at the White House during that period and my brother-in-law has the invitation in his family archive. Two encounters for the family during the Kennedy "Camelot" period in history.

A doctor friend of my paternal grandfather had once treated JFK in a medical capacity and received a letter of complaint from JFK afterwards that "he charged too much" for the office visit. The letter was later framed and hanging on the wall for many years in the doctor's house in NH.

 

***

If any OSers have an interesting account of where they were when the news came over the wires please feel free to add a comment below.

 

 

 

 

Author tags:

jfk assassination, thanksgiving

Your tags:

TIP:

Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Recipient's email address:
Personal message (optional):

Your email address:
Cancel

Comments

Type your comment below:
Cancel
I hadn't even thought about this until your post. It may be the first year that the day hasn't taken me back to the 7th grade classroom where I heard the news. There was a junior high basketball game that night that wasn't cancelled but that had an eerily subdued crowd.
jlsathre
November 23, 2012 07:34 AM
I was in kindergarten then. They couldn't send us home but I'm not sure why. All of our mothers were crying when they came to pick us up from school. I am sure I asked a million questions. After watching some of the documentaries this week as well as the movie, JFK, there are still millions of unanswered questions. Every time I see the video, I am shocked that he was riding in such an open vehicle. What an age of naivety.
I was in the den playing when Oswald was shot while cameras rolled. My grandfather was watching the television in the den and I clearly remember him shouting, "They got him!" Everyone on tv was yelling and there were men crowding around Oswald.
I vaguely remember the funereal. JFK's children, well behaved, at their mother's side, were very close to my age. I remember crying for them because their father had been killed. I couldn't imagine how they felt.
Jeana Morris
November 23, 2012 08:07 AM
It was 10th grade for me. The first news came over the loudspeakers in math class, and later, in health class, the ultimate news came and school was dismissed.

My friends and I played a pickup game of touch football that week-end. Saw the Jack Ruby deal live, too. Weird.

I was cursed back then by a yearbook picture that made me look just like Oswald. Yikes!
Stacey Youdin
November 23, 2012 05:24 PM
It was 10th grade for me. The first news came over the loudspeakers in math class, and later, in health class, the ultimate news came and school was dismissed.

My friends and I played a pickup game of touch football that week-end. Saw the Jack Ruby deal live, too. Weird.

I was cursed back then by a yearbook picture that made me look just like Oswald. Yikes!
Stacey Youdin
November 23, 2012 05:27 PM
I was in high school, pretty sure it was in Latin class. I have lots of memories, but the one I recall clearly was watching Jack Ruby shoot Oswald live as it happened. I went into the kitchen to tell my mother and she helped me to realize it was not taped, but live. She worried that it would haunt me later.
Liberal Southern Democrat
November 23, 2012 06:18 PM
I was in 7th grade too, but I remember being so very young. I couldn't believe that Jackie wasn't crying when everyone else was sobbing. To my family, we had lost the first Catholic president and it hit home. My church staged a funeral for President Kennedy with a mock coffin draped in a flag. My school choir was supposed to sing but when we got to the choir loft, the adult choir was already setting up so we sat in the gallery and sulked through the whole event. It was a terrible moment, a terrible time. It felt like everything had stopped and it took weeks for any forward movement to return.
nilesite
November 23, 2012 08:24 PM