Remembering a Moment: The JFK Assassination

"It wasn't necessarily my favorite memory, but a significant memory of living in a small town. I was going to a two room school house. With two teachers. They were married. One taught the fourth grade and the other teacher Mr. Mayfield taught fifth through the seventh. One afternoon, this gentleman cam running. Came in from work and he says, "I don't know if you've heard the news, but John F. Kennedy was just assassinated." We were all stunned. Even as children, upset. The teacher let us out for recess, which was just milling around literally on the front steps of the school house. Waiting to see what would happen. Call came in. They dismissed school earlier. Meanwhile, parents started showing up after hearing the news. National news, that John F. Kennedy had been assassinated.

What I remember is sitting on those front steps and the guys imagining what were the right punishment would be for something ... doing something so atrocious. Of course, you know for the next two days that's all television carried. Was the news of the assassination. But the way it impacted that small community. It's all we talked about. Brought folks together. That was the nature ... A significant memory of living in a small town."

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