I lived in Dallas when he was shot and was attending a sixth grade class at a local Elementary School. We had been to the little park that became known as the “Grassy Knoll” many times. No one even knew that the Texas School Book Fepository was there, although my mother passed by it every day going to and from work. I remember that day we’ll. It was a bright sunny day, and the air was clean from the rain we had the day before. We were excited that the President was coming to Dallas, and as you can imagine, the teachers had been pumping us up all week for Kennedy’s visit. He came on a Friday, so the buildup all week was tremendous. I will never forget that was eating lunch with my friends at the old roll up tables that they used to have in Elentary school lunches. We had fish that day (in honor of catholics I suppose), and our principal, James D. Nall, came over the loud speakers, just after lunch to tell us that the President had been shot. I recall that the network TV was saturated all day, and they announced that a suspect had been caught, right after a local policeman, J.D. Tippett, had been shot to death by the suspect at a local movie theater. My father knew Tippett well, as he used to stop in at his fire station for coffee. MyMother worked downtown and had to go by the crime scene on her way home. I worked overseas later in life and used to kid folks when asked about that day that I was the “shooter” on the grassy knoll. Of course, I was 12 at the time, so it wasn’t me. What a tragedy. I always believed it was a conspiracy.
Thanks for the personal perspective.
I was only 4 at the time. My memories are very vague. Mostly, I just remember the funeral. I recall the horse drawn carriage, with drum riffing, and John Jr saluting