The student commons was full on November 22nd 1963. It was typical Fall day in Illinois - cold and grey skies. I was sitting with some freshman friends in the corner of the Commons - there was a long Thanksgiving Weekend coming up and this was the last day of classes - everyone was making plans on what to do over the weekend. Some of the kids were going to go home, the hockey players we staying around for hockey practice and thinking about what the Thanksgiving meal would be like in the Commons (a conversation full of sarcastic humor). Everything was new for me that Fall of my freshman year - I had met some great friends, we went to the NCAA's in soccer but lost in the Regional Finals against St. Louis - college was great - hockey practice was beginning before Thanksgiving and we were headed for a games against Colorado College and Airforce at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. I had met a girl from California who I thought was really cool. We started to talk about parties and what the kids who are staying on campus and not going home - I thought a little about what it would be like missing Thanksgiving with my family in Minnesota for the first time in my life. That's what was on my mind - an 18 year old freshman - girls, sports, parties,...it was all new. Then everything changed.
Marcia Robek ran to our table with tears streaming down her eyes...she was out of breath. "They shot Kennedy! They shot Kennedy" It was like a lightening bolt hit me. The news travelled across the Commons and a silence fell over all the students - ....and then the torrent of questions..where? is he dead? when? what's happening now? who did it? the Russians? We raced to the TV set in the student lounge - it was packed..all of a sudden we were all one .... David Brinkley, Chet Huntley, Walter Cronkite and some other announcers I couldn't remember were reporting the news real time.
They shot our guy - he was our President! I felt so helpless, I wanted to go attack whoever did it...I could feel the energy building inside me. We were all going through the Death and Dying Cycle in a matter of hours. We knew Johnson would be President, but how could he ever replace Kennedy. We were transfixed by the TV broadcasts - it was continuous - we'd never seen anything like this before but began to realize we were all becoming part of history....we were thinking about presidential succession, what the Russians might do, what was going to happen in Vietnam with the advisors there, and would the country be ok. For an 18 year older who hours before had no cares in the world, this was a lot to think about.
When they brought Oswald out of the holding cell, I remember distinctly someone in the lounge saying "someone aught to shoot his ass". And then it happened. As stunning as it was, at some levels, it was a secondary level event.
The events of history flowed through Thanksgiving - it was somber. The only break we had was hockey practice - the coach said it was voluntary and I can remember tears welling in his eyes when he got us together on the ice and told us "we need to hang together during these times..we're a team".
The State Funeral was full of tragedy and majesty. We all watched for hours and somehow didn't want it to end - we'd not seen enough of Jack Kennedy and now he was really gone.
We drank a lot too - the weather cleared on Friday night and the stars were out - a group of us were walking to our dorm after an open house at one of the fraternities. I remember feeling very different - life had changed us forever. I looked up at the stars wondering what would happen next - I remember feeling energized and sad at the same time. We walked in silence that night back to our dorms, each one knowing that our lives had changed for ever.
I still feel the same today.
A toast to John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
Altair19
p.s. We still have a lot to be thankful for - Happy Thanksgiving |
