When I wrote the previous post I had not realized that today is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, may he rest in peace.

When the assassination happened I was in third grade, in Sister Joseph Therese's classroom at St. John the Baptist School in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  If my memory serves me correctly, Sister was called into the hallway by someone who spoke to her.  When she came back into the classroom, she had a look on  her face very similar to when we were about to get into very big trouble.  She then quietly said that President Kennedy had been shot and killed.  I believe we were all dismissed then to go home.

Even as young as we were, we all knew that something very, very horrible had just happened.  The adults were all crying.  I remember my family watching television as the president's body arrived back in Washington.  Jackie came off the plane with the president's blood still splattered on her outfit.  I remember my mother's gasp.  Later, I hear her talking to a friend and marveling that no one had gotten Jackie another outfit to wear.  Only recently I learned that the First Lady had not changed clothes intentionally, so that the country could truly see the horror of what had happened.

It was a terrible tragedy and one of my earliest memories of a public event.  God rest the souls of the Kennedy family who have passed on.  And may the Lord console Caroline Kennedy in a special way today as she recalls this terrible loss as the only one left of the immediate Kennedy family.

Lord have mercy.