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64 AAR Valiant

64 AAR Valiant

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Today is JFK Birthday.
Had he lived he would be celebrating his insert number here birthday .damn I was just a kid when he died and he wa s a young man. .
 
I was 15, in orchestra class just before lunch. They closed the school, we rode "downtown" with some friends to one of their houses and watched things unfold on TV Sloppy, slushy wintery day with about 4" of wet slush on the road

We had a "black and white" TV and got 1 channel clear, and the "other two" so snowy and noisy they were near impossible to enjoy most the time. Channel 4 was CBS at that time on Mt Spokane

My Dad worked at the local NAPA, I don't recall that they closed, and likely did not. On a side note, he not only sold auto parts for them, he was the Johnson outboard mechanic (they had the franchise) and worked on others as well, he turned drums (no rotors, much back then) and also relined brake bands for tractors and "jammers" (winch drums) and truck / trailer shoes.
 
67Dart273 said:
I was 15, in orchestra class just before lunch. They closed the school, we rode "downtown" with some friends to one of their houses and watched things unfold on TV Sloppy, slushy wintery day with about 4" of wet slush on the road

We had a "black and white" TV and got 1 channel clear, and the "other two" so snowy and noisy they were near impossible to enjoy most the time. Channel 4 was CBS at that time on Mt Spokane

My Dad worked at the local NAPA, I don't recall that they closed, and likely did not. On a side note, he not only sold auto parts for them, he was the Johnson outboard mechanic (they had the franchise) and worked on others as well, he turned drums (no rotors, much back then) and also relined brake bands for tractors and "jammers" (winch drums) and truck / trailer shoes.
Click to expand...

That's super cool. When I was in auto shop in high school, we relined brake shoes for the local rail yard and most anybody else that needed it. I used to love doing that. btw, channel 4 was CBS back in the day here, too. LOL
 
I was in the 4th grade at recess in Cherokee Alabama. They sent us home. We picked up 3 tv stations back then.

Saw Oswald get shot by Ruby live on tv too.
 
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Old man ray said:
Today is JFK Birthday.
Had he lived he would be celebrating his insert number here birthday .damn I was just a kid when he died and he wa s a young man. .
Click to expand...

I remember that well. Me and a buddy skipped school that afternoon, walked about 3 miles to his house thru the boonies (country school). When we got to his house his sisters were already home, they let school out before we got there, I lived about 3 miles from him, was
A LONG WALK !! FOR NOTHING !
 
He looked younger than he was.
46.
He was older than my father who also was in WW2.
I think being marred to a younger woman adds to that illusion.
Jackie was more than 10 years his junior.

Relining brake shoes back then?
Can you say mesothelioma?
Does anyone remember their father always having tires recapped.
It was weird to me.
They put the recaps on a machine that took rubber back off to make the recapped tire round.
 
I was too young to remember it at the time, but remember my mom explaining it to me a few years later.
 
Mom was 18. JFK's running for president was the 1st election she voted in. She always said the 1st presdident she voted for and he got assassinated. I wasn't born yet.
 
I was a sophomore in Hs. S W Ga. Life was different back there, back then.

I think JFK was a person (politician) that truly cared for his fellow man.
 
I had just turned 7, 2nd grade. Teacher had a portable (23") TV rolled into the class room so we could watch the news. Like 7 yr olds had a clue as to what was going on. That funeral thing sure messed up the Saturday morning cartoons. I caught on pretty fast and was fascinated by the entire tragedy for years after.
 
I was only 3, and I remember, because I asked, why are you crying mommy? I did not know or care what a president was yet. Just a few things that I remember at such a young age.
 
8th grade.. science class, teacher was looking out in the hall because a couple teachers went running by. She spoke to someone and began crying. It was on tv for days, I can still remember the drum cadence. Saw Oswald get shot on live tv, on Sunday.
 
Only 2 when he was assasinated but this thread made me feel old as anyone alive before nov. of 1963 is. lol.
 
I was in 7th grade, the vice principle came running by, stopping at each room, saying "the president has been shot", about an hour later comes running by saying "the president is dead". All further activities cancelled for the day.

My wife was a sophomore in high school at the time, said her English teacher laid his head down and started crying.

I grew up in the Chicago area, we had five TV channels, the three main networks, an independent (WGN) and one PBS. It was all about this the next three days. I don't remember my parents saying much about it, but that's the way they were, keep things to themselves.
 
Old man ray said:
Just seems hard to believe he would be 100 years old.
Click to expand...
The interesting thing to me is how close in age a lot of the icons from that period in history were up through the 80s.

Age today (if they were all still alive)

JFK - 100
Reagan- 107
Nixon - 105
Ford - 105
Kissinger - 95
Carter - 94

Over 40 years of the nations history significantly affected by a group of men separated in age by only by about a dozen years. All these men grew up in the 1920s and 30s.
 
I remember when President Kennedy was shot up in Dallas. 22 November, 1963. It was a Friday. My 16th birthday. I was in class at San Marcos High School. 27 miles South of Austin, 49 miles North of San Antonio. We had just returned to class from lunch.

School was not let out. We remained in class. One of the teachers had a portable radio and turned it on to keep up with current events as we went through the motions of continuing with our studies. We did not know if it was an 'inside job' (coups d'etat within our own government) or if the Soviets were going to attack or invade. My first thought was, 'Why in the world would he come to Dallas, Texas? It would be easier to provide security for him if he were visiting Moscow.' Being a kid, I had no interest in politics but I can tell from what I overheard whenever Kennedy was mentioned by adults that regardless of what the history books say now of days...... He was not very popular here in Texas.

My 2nd thought was to form a plan of action in case there was an invasion. We were too young to join the military so the boys in class got together and we decided amongst ourselves to go home, arm ourselves and if we were invaded, to go up into the hills with whatever provisions we could carry and fight a guerrilla action, constantly sniping and moving. The girls and lady folk we could convince to come would be taken to safer places farther up in the hill country for their safety. We would bury ammo, weapons and food in caches, much of it in caves we knew of so that if the enemy found any of it, they would not find all of it.

But we saw no enemy planes landing and no parachutes as we walked home Ditto that evening and the days that followed. So in the following weeks, we just tried to make some sense of it all and get on with life. About 20 years later there was a movie called 'Red Dawn' and the young people in the movie fought the Soviet invaders as we had discussed. The movie kids also did a lot of really stupid and overly dramatic things as I recall, but then again, it was a Hollywood movie. Not real life.

I do remember coming in the back door from the alfalfa field behind our home a couple days following the Kennedy assassination. I had gotten my DeSoto hemi powered Henry J running and was looking forward to taking my drivers license test so I could drive it on the road instead of bouncing around the alfalfa field with it.

As I came in the kitchen door, I could see that my folks were watching their little black and white TV in the back bedroom. Very unusual for them to have it on during the day. As I got nearer, I saw Jack Ruby lunge forward and shoot Oswald live on TV as he was being escorted by the tall Texas Ranger.

Anyway, I determined soon after to go into the service the following year when I turned 17. Lots of guys in my school were dropping out and doing that. Things were tight and that would be one less mouth for my folks to feed. But my folks convinced me to finish school. So I stayed on and finished school before leaving for Marine Corps boot camp following graduation.

Thanks for the memories,

Harry
 
enigma57 said:
I remember when President Kennedy was shot up in Dallas. 22 November, 1963. It was a Friday. My 16th birthday. I was in class at San Marcos High School. 27 miles South of Austin, 49 miles North of San Antonio. We had just returned to class from lunch.

School was not let out. We remained in class. One of the teachers had a portable radio and turned it on to keep up with current events as we went through the motions of continuing with our studies. We did not know if it was an 'inside job' (coups d'etat within our own government) or if the Soviets were going to attack or invade. My first thought was, 'Why in the world would he come to Dallas, Texas? It would be easier to provide security for him if he were visiting Moscow.' Being a kid, I had no interest in politics but I can tell from what I overheard whenever Kennedy was mentioned by adults that regardless of what the history books say now of days...... He was not very popular here in Texas.

My 2nd thought was to form a plan of action in case there was an invasion. We were too young to join the military so the boys in class got together and we decided amongst ourselves to go home, arm ourselves and if we were invaded, to go up into the hills with whatever provisions we could carry and fight a guerrilla action, constantly sniping and moving. The girls and lady folk we could convince to come would be taken to safer places farther up in the hill country for their safety. We would bury ammo, weapons and food in caches, much of it in caves we knew of so that if the enemy found any of it, they would not find all of it.

But we saw no enemy planes landing and no parachutes as we walked home Ditto that evening and the days that followed. So in the following weeks, we just tried to make some sense of it all and get on with life. About 20 years later there was a movie called 'Red Dawn' and the young people in the movie fought the Soviet invaders as we had discussed. The movie kids also did a lot of really stupid and overly dramatic things as I recall, but then again, it was a Hollywood movie. Not real life.

I do remember coming in the back door from the alfalfa field behind our home a couple days following the Kennedy assassination. I had gotten my DeSoto hemi powered Henry J running and was looking forward to taking my drivers license test so I could drive it on the road instead of bouncing around the alfalfa field with it.

As I came in the kitchen door, I could see that my folks were watching their little black and white TV in the back bedroom. Very unusual for them to have it on during the day. As I got nearer, I saw Jack Ruby lunge forward and shoot Oswald live on TV as he was being escorted by the tall Texas Ranger.

Anyway, I determined soon after to go into the service the following year when I turned 17. Lots of guys in my school were dropping out and doing that. Things were tight and that would be one less mouth for my folks to feed. But my folks convinced me to finish school. So I stayed on and finished school before leaving for Marine Corps boot camp following graduation.

Thanks for the memories,

Harry
Click to expand...
I was 14 when he was killed and was in class at the time, like many schools we were sent home early. I can remember watching the coverage on KDKA.
 
I was 3 so, don't really remember anything about it personally. All I know about 1963 is that's the year that dad packed us all up into an old school bus, and moved us from Ohio to Colorado. Thanks Dad!
 
I was in first grade in St. Christopher’s School. Announcement over the PA, then the whole school in church for Catholic Mass 30 minutes later.
 
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