Remembering Nov. 22, 1963
The writer can't recollect any other significant happenings during the autumn of his 10th year, but he'll always recall the events of November 22, 1963.
Dismissed early - shortly after lunch - from Main Building for reasons unexplained, he and a couple of friends made their way down Sugartree towards Walnut, oblivious to what was going on 1,500 miles away in Dallas, Texas.
However, at the corner of Sugartree and South – not a half-a-block away from where his office is located today two decades later - he sensed something was wrong. The flag on the pole on the corner of the courthouse lawn was at half-mast and he didn't ever recall it being flown that way before.
He knew for sure something was amiss when he looked his mom in the face as she greeted him at the back door.
The Motorola in the TV room was delivering the shocking news regularly - President John F. Kennedy, JFK as the newspapers always referred to him, was dead.
For his generation, November 22, 1963, is one of the few dates that is indelibly imprinted in their minds. In that way, it joins the likes of December 7, 1941, for those old enough to remember that infamous day.
It was tough for a 10-year-old to fathom exactly what impact the assassination of an American president would have on the world, but politics aside, he at least knew that a couple of famous kids, John-John and Caroline, didn't have a father anymore.
Because Kennedy was so young, with hardly a chance to distinguish himself in the land's highest office, both young and old, friend and foe, Democrat and Republican grieved his passing.
It's been reported, because of the media coverage, especially television, given the tragic incident, that to this day a vast majority of Americans can recall vividly what they were doing the instant they heard the news that' 'the President has been shot."
A random check of 20 area residents, one for each year since the assassination, revealed that only three of them could not distinctly remember what they were doing in the early afternoon hours of November 22, 1963- 20 years ago Tuesday.
Ron Carey, prosecuting attorney - "I was working at my desk at Cincinnati Milacron and my wife called and told me about it. After that, all the lines were jammed up and nobody could get in or out. It was kind of scary that you couldn't get a line out ... There was a lot of turmoil after that and it seemed to highlight the whole decade as far as the violence part of it."
Bob Holmes, city service director - "I was a plant engineer at Irwin Auger Bit and the plant superintendent stopped me on the way out of the office and told me. I was shocked and a lot of people were expressing disbelief.”
Ernie Adkins, Dayton Power and Light, - “I was at a pep rally in high school and they announced it over the PA system. Things were deathly silent. There were like 400 kids in the pep rally and they all became silent and very somber. When everybody left there was a hush. It was very sad.”
Bill Hidy, Wilmington City Police sergeant – “I was working second shift then and I was getting ready to come to work when I heard it in the radio. I was shocked and didn’t believe it. Everybody was hoping he was going to live. We kept thinking he was going to survive.”
Chuck Dowler, Wilmington City Schools superintendent - "I remember very well. I was a college student at Rio Grande and I was walking out of Denny's Restaurant when someone said the president had been
shot. Everyone thought it was a joke until we saw people crying. Everybody was kind of dumfounded."
Steve Blackledge, News-Journal sports editor - "I was only three, but I remember walking down the stairs and my mom saying something about the president being shot. I didn't really comprehend what that meant, but I remember kind of stumbling down the stairs. It's kind of wild, I don't know why I remember that."
Shirley Webb, Municipal Court deputy clerk - "I was watching "As the World Turns" and getting the kids ready to go to the bank before it closed."
Wilma Dupuis, Municipal Court deputy clerk - "I was raking leaves and grandma came out and told me...I remember people were pulling up to the curb-and asking if it was really true."
Joe Spicer, Wilmington fire chief - "I was sitting in the typing class of Mr. Richard Townsend. I don't remember exactly what was said, but they ran the radio over the PA for 15 or 20 minutes. Everybody was shocked. At that time I wasn't into politics, but I thought he was a good president and I was upset."
Eleanor West, Clinton County clerk of courts - "I was in Sheeter's 10 cent store shopping when I first heard it. At first I thought they were talking about some other country then I realized it was ours. I don't recall people around me reacting though I thought it couldn't happen here. But it did and I guess I was shocked."
Priscilla Vaughn, prosecuting attorney secretary- "Sure I remember. I was in Ohio history class at Kingman. Gabe Carder was the principal and he came in and said that President Kennedy had been shot. I think everybody was kind of shocked' and we stopped class and' talked about it."
Bob Lundquist, president of National Bank and Trust - "I was 'starting up the elevator of the bank at South Bend, Ind. where I worked when I heard it on a radio at a cigar stand. It really shocked me."
Ken Hawk, officer in charge at BancOhio - "Gosh yes, I'll never forget. I was in Tripoli, Libya, Kaddafy's stomping grounds, with the U.S. Air Force. It was Friday evening over there and I was at the Air Force Squadron football game. All of a sudden sirens went off and we were in a full military alert. I was on a special alert team and got dropped off in the desert that night. I remember getting picked up the following morning at 8 and that was the first time I knew what had happened. I had thought we were going to war or something. I just knew we didn't have fake alerts. The game just stopped right in the middle and football players were running everywhere."
Dick Kubik, Wilmington College publicist - "I was working at Ripon College in Wisconsin and when I came back from lunch I heard that Kennedy had been shot. Some of the secretaries told me. Of course, at that time we didn't know he was dead. I remember my oldest son that evening was puzzled by the papers because they had advance stories on what Kennedy
was supposed to have said (in Dallas) ... In essence, that was the first of all the violence in that decade."
Bill Marine, car dealer - "We were closing a car deal when it came over the radio and everything in the dealership just stopped. There was a number of people around and everybody was just stunned. They just couldn't believe that that kind of thing could happen. I remember it was a busy afternoon and it seems as if it just happened yesterday.”
Harold Uible, County Commissioner – “I remember very much. I had stopped at Landmark and Virginia Rulon told me the news. I had been driving from New Vienna and hadn’t heard. It was hard to believe.”
Allen Gano, attorney – “I was sitting in Mary Cherryholmes’ English class. I could almost tell you the seat I was sitting in. They said it over the loudspeaker and everybody was kind of in shock.”
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