Sixty Years Ago

There have been more than a few memorable moments during the course of my life that have left a mark in my memories. Some good, some not so good.

At the age of 6, this was one.

My parents were staunch Republicans and not JFK supporters. But they were as horrified and upset with the events of November 22, 1963, as millions of others were, supporters and opponents of Kennedy.

I was in school -- first grade, Cleveland Elementary School, Sioux Falls SD -- when it happened. I don't remember how my teacher at the time reacted to it.

I only vaguely remember that my parents, when we got home, didn't rightly know how to explain to their kids the enormity of the moment.

As the week went on, we came to figure some of it out as events played out on TV. From hearing the replay of Walter Cronkite making the fateful announcement, through to the lighting of the Eternal Flame.

Not long afterward, my parents obtained a book about the event called The Torch Is Passed. I have that book today. Each and every time over the years that I have opened it up, it takes me back to that time. It doesn't matter that I know more now than I did then. It still takes me back to what it all meant then.

To a six-year-old, it was completely incomprehensible. All these years later, it still is.

Once, in 1991 -- another momentous national occasion that I remember well -- I had to occasion to be at Arlington Cemetery and stand at JFK's gravesite. Once there, I took a moment on a very cold, crisp February day, to pause and remember.

Nearby, the grave of RFK was there too. Yet another event etched firmly in my memories.

I won't bother with all the unanswered questions from that day. Folks have a wide range of opinions and notions about the what and why of November 22, 1963. My own are...well, they remain my own. What I think isn't relevant to this moment.

Relevant only is that it happened, and that I remember it. 

Jackie and John Jr. have since reunited with JFK in the hereafter. Only Caroline Kennedy Townsend remains from the immediate family. To her I wish always well and the best.

For the rest, I simply remember.

God bless.