The 1960s

There was lots happening in the 1960s. Some events stand out and really made an impact on our lives.

The first was the assasination of President John F. Kennedy November 22, 1963. It was a very shocking thing to happen. I doubt that anyone ever thought that another president would be assasinated. We could hardly believe the news. It was covered by the media for hours and hours and hours.

The first news came while the CBS-TV soap, "As the World Turns," was on the air. The Zapruder home movie was shown many times. Everyone was totally shocked.

Then, before we had time to really understand what had happened, we saw Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement garage of the police department. He was immediately taken into custody.

I was putting Sunday dinner on the table and just chanced to look up and there was Ruby, Oswald, and law enforcement officers. It seemed unbelievable that a man would shoot another man with all the police around.

Children pick up on how adults are feeling. They just seem to sense it when people are upset. They didn't understand what was going on but they knew something was wrong.

As with all traumatic events, there were scenes impressed on our brains that we won't ever forget. The reasons for what happened, and why, were never explained. Many people were dissatisfied even after the Warren Report was published. The shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald made it impossible to find out what really happened and why.

The second event was July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong, a US astronaut, became the first man to walk on the noon four days after the launch from Cape Canaveral. Buzz Aldrin also walked on the moon then.

We were driving to Denver to visit brother Bill and we heard it on the radio. Then we watched it on TV later in the day.

My Mother never really believed that any man had walked on the moon. She tnought it was all fake. I never could change her mind.