My 3rd grade class was missing out on recess because they had to practice for a choral performance. I, on the other hand, was out enjoying my recess because I was excused from choral due to not being able to sing on key. (What’s a key?) A classmate suffering the same affliction came up to me with the news. I responded that she was lying and after a bit of a scuffle we were all called into class and given the official word.
I was never musically gifted either, though I wasn’t around then.
I remember the day as if it had been yesterday. My husband and I had been married just a couple of weeks the year before. He was stationed in Germany and we lived on the economy. It was around 6 PM German time and my husband was listening to AFN (American Forces Network) on his radio, and I was listening to a German variety show from a Stuttgart radio station that I listened to every Friday. Both my husband and I were shocked when we heard it.
I was also in the third grade. There was an announcement over the school PA system. At the time, we were living on an Army post in Virginia. On Sunday, the day of the funeral, I can remember an artillery salute fired in Kennedy’s honor. I think it was a 50 gun salute.