The Day the World Turned . . . .

I noticed for the first time yesterday that 50 years later, an event most of us over 60 remember with great clarity will be noted on a Friday, the same week day that it actually happened.

It was a drizzly Friday in Sandpoint Nov. 22, 1963, when Barb Kitt and I, editor and assistant editor,  stood next to the mimeograph machine, running off copies of the Knothole in Imogene Davis' business occupations room.

The Knothole came out at Sandpoint High School on weeks when the Cedar Post, the school's official newspaper--that year edited by Laurel Pratt,  did not publish. 

I don't know how long the mimeograph paper, produced by Journalism I students, lasted but I know we felt pretty important that day as we stood at the machine which would run off pages of our journalistic efforts, which we would later distribute to the student body.

Pride from cub reporters instantly turned to gasps followed by gushing tears when Imogene suddenly stood before the class and announced that she had just been told of President John F. Kennedy's assassination attempt.

I can remember most of the events of that day as if they happened yesterday, but for the life of me, I don't know what ever happened to that issue of our cub paper.  Suddenly its importance in my mind became insignificant to the news I'd just heard about my hero.

John F. Kennedy received my vote in junior high, even though it didn't count for much in the mock election.  In the weeks before his election in 1960, I distributed all the information and pins I could gather about this handsome, eloquent politician while visiting the Democratic headquarters during noon hours at the school. 

A few minutes after Imogene's stunning announcement,  as we made our way down the hall toward our journalism room, sobbing uncontrollably, we learned that the President had died.

I remember Claire Sodorff, our school counselor comforting me in the girls restroom, and I remember leaving the school on that miserably wet, sloppy Friday and finding my way to St. Joseph's Catholic Church to say a prayer.

I also remember arriving home where my mother and my one-month old baby brother Jim had spent the day.  Mother, like millions of American women, was an "As the World Turns" soap opera addict, was watching TV when she learned of the event.    

The day time story of the Hughes family had been a staple in the American homes for some time, and I can even tell stories of later years when college students with a class just after lunch may have taken a few absences in favor of sitting transfixed to each day's episode.

Last night, after watching the Gonzaga game,  we family members were talking about the Kennedy assassination and the memories of the day. Then I mentioned to one of my sisters, "I'm betting you don't remember much about it."

No, she said, adding that she was 2 at the time, but she definitely knew that "Mom was watching 'As the World Turns.'"

That memory from our mother that had probably been recounted to my sister several times over the years inspired me to do some looking this morning for the reality of what it must have been like as all those house wives sat in their homes, taking out time from their domestic duties to see what was happening with the Hughes family that day.

Well, apparently, a big event was in store for the Hughes clan, as an estranged wife was gonna join them for Thanksgiving dinner. 

We don't find out too much more about Lisa, as the program was interrupted numerous times, as indicated by the mesmerizing and fascinating You Tube video below. 

So, I'll leave you this morning with your own thoughts of that fateful day and some fascinating viewing of one of the most significant moments in history that millions of Americans and the world experienced and endured in their living rooms, thanks to what was at that time fairly modern technology and up-to-the-moment journalism.