How old were you when JFK killed

[Lydia Leftcoast]

171. 13--I heard the news in eighth grade math class

My junior high school had two lunch periods, and I had first lunch. After lunch, I was in math class, and the geography teacher, who had second lunch and had been listening to the radio in the teachers' lounge, came in and told us that Kennedy had been shot.

A few minutes later, the office started broadcasting CBS radio over the school intercom. We just listened in stunned silence until the announcement came that JFK was dead. Several kids burst into tears.

We students and the teacher just sat there. We didn't know what to do. Obviously we couldn't continue with class. Then we heard the principal's voice over the intercom telling us that we would be going home and that those who needed school buses should wait outside.

I walked the three blocks home, two hours early. As I walked into the house, I said something like, "Mom, they let us out early because Kennedy got killed." Well, she already knew. She hadn't been watching TV, but one of my brothers was home with the flu and lying on the couch watching some daytime show when the news came on.

I remember several moments of the TV coverage. I didn't see Oswald get shot (we were in church, except for my brother, who was still sick, so he told us the news.)

We watched the funeral on Monday, and I remember thinking that the Cardinal who officiated at the ceremony talked like W.C. Fields. (Strange the things you remember.) All kinds of world leaders attended: Hailie Selassie of Ethiopia and Charles DeGaulle of France are two I remember recognizing.

Our church (my father was a Lutheran pastor) held a memorial service that day. My dad had voted for Nixon, but he felt that the death of a president should transcend party lines and be marked with solemnity.