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In reply to the discussion: How old were you when JFK killed [View all]Rhiannon12866
(205,289 posts)My reading group was allowed to go to the school library by ourselves, were told to be quiet and not to run. I ran into my brother there, delivering a note from his teacher, and he acted like I didn't exist. Apparently the gym coach had a free period and he heard the announcement on the radio that the president had been shot. He told the 6th grade teacher who told the librarian and we overheard. We ran back to our classroom at the other end of the school, don't imagine we were quiet at all. We told the teacher and he ran out to find out more and the rest of the day was strange.
We were let out of school early soon after that, remember half of the kids in the school sitting on the floor in the gym, waiting for our buses to arrive. The next few days were quite surreal, no school and we had the television on all the time. I learned the word "grimace," when I saw Lee Harvey Oswald shot on live TV.
I remember telling my mother and she said she couldn't stand anymore. Everyone was sad and scared and visibly upset, including my parents, though I know they voted for Nixon. Things were different back then, everyone was inconsolable.