I
doubt that my memory is much different from any Boomer kids growing up in the
sixties. My Catholic school recently acquired television sets to bring
educational broadcasts to the classroom. Within minutes of the shooting they
had wheeled a set into our room. We were all transfixed. The teacher instructed
us all to take our tablets and write down our observations. James Cunningham
was sitting to my right and wrote a large headline at the top of his page: THE
DEATH OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY. As the death had not yet been announced I
challenged him and we went around about it a little. I knew it sounded grim but
until it was announced I held out hope.
I remember little else that day. The weekend was pretty simple; we just watched the TV broadcast all day long. I lived across the street from my grandparents and we all sat around their tiny living room hardly speaking but watching every minute of the television broadcasts. We saw it all as it happened live including Oswald’s murder. I think the thing that sticks with me the most was funeral procession through Washington. It was so slow and the haunting drumming seemed to go all day. I still hear that.
The family took it hard. During the 1960 election my grandfather had put up Kennedy campaign signs around his basement bar. They were still there three years later. I don’t remember if he ever took them down. It was as if a member of the family had perished. That scenario would play out again whenever a family member passed away over the remaining 35 years they lived there. We would all gather in that tiny living room exactly as we did in 1963. In fact, it was exactly 35 years later that we had the last such gathering there. Grandma Lavery's burial was November 23, 1998. Their house was closed up soon after that.
I remember little else that day. The weekend was pretty simple; we just watched the TV broadcast all day long. I lived across the street from my grandparents and we all sat around their tiny living room hardly speaking but watching every minute of the television broadcasts. We saw it all as it happened live including Oswald’s murder. I think the thing that sticks with me the most was funeral procession through Washington. It was so slow and the haunting drumming seemed to go all day. I still hear that.
The family took it hard. During the 1960 election my grandfather had put up Kennedy campaign signs around his basement bar. They were still there three years later. I don’t remember if he ever took them down. It was as if a member of the family had perished. That scenario would play out again whenever a family member passed away over the remaining 35 years they lived there. We would all gather in that tiny living room exactly as we did in 1963. In fact, it was exactly 35 years later that we had the last such gathering there. Grandma Lavery's burial was November 23, 1998. Their house was closed up soon after that.
JFK
was one of us.
