That November Day in 1963

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

This week marks the 62nd anniversary of a moment we shared in high school.

Above are the notes I made in my English book and the article I wrote for the original Lee's Traveller published November 27, 1963. My handwriting was terrible!

"During Plane Geometry I was awakened by a radio coming over the P.A. system." It was the start of my journal - written in the middle of my senior English book. It was the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. I went back a little later and added a few more lines, but the basic facts of the story were written on the day it happened. I did it, based on plans for the reuse of textbooks in Huntsville back then. When I sold my books at the end of the year another student in the future would read my thoughts and think of me, I thought. But because I left Huntsville so fast after graduation, I never sold my books, so later in my future I would be the one to re-read those lines. With those few words I set the cornerstone for not only writing books in my future, but also the start of the journal which would eventually lead to my future with creating "Lee's Traveller" which continues today. Of course, a date with a very pretty and popular Lee High girl was also a big factor in the birth of the Journal and the books.

I guess it was the feeling that I had witnessed a true piece of American history that made me start a journal of my life on the day that President Kennedy was shot.  It had to be a journal because boys did not keep diaries.  Girls kept diaries in which they committed to paper their innermost thoughts and secret loves.  On the other hand, it wasn't manly for boys to do that type of thing.  If you were a boy and kept a diary, everyone would have thought you were a little funny.  Our label for funny people back then was "fruit."  I know I didn't have to keep it a secret, but I did.  I kept my journal hidden and told no one about it, not even my closest friends.

 My journal was a very personal thing.  In it I recorded my daily activities and thoughts.  I wrote in it each night before I went to bed and kept it in a cedar box secured with a lock without a key.  The lack of the key was part of my security plan to make sure that no one read it.  I found that if I bent a paper clip just right I could easily pick the lock.  That left me alone with the ability to get into the box and to the journal.  I never had any future plans for the journal except to keep it for my own memories.  I had no idea that one day I would share it with the world.

My high school days have always had a special place in my heart.  I don't think I am unusual to feel that way.  The boy who wrote the journal, the seventeen-year-old editor of the high school newspaper, is the person that lives inside my body today.  He is the person who is most shocked in the morning to see an old man looking back at him in the mirror.

Many times I have wished that I had started the journal on the first day of class of my senior year.  I could have written in it that I wore the new pair of stiff-starched blue jeans and white shirt to school on the first day and could have carried the writings throughout the full nine months of that year.

Regretfully, the recording of events from the first day of school, shortly after Labor Day, until the 22nd of November, 1963, was never accomplished.  My memories of those days will live as most other people's memories live, in the slowly dying parts of the mind.  They are tucked away with other things, where names and faces, dates and times, the good and bad, are slowly blending from blacks and whites to grays in our aging memories.

 Below is the text about this date which was written for "A Million Tomorrows...Memories of the Class of '64." 

November 22

The End of Camelot

I was brought out of a shallow sleep by the noise of a crowd and a reporter talking over the school's public address system.  I was sitting in geometry class, which was the one subject I usually understood.  For some reason on that day, I seemed to have been looking at the book so hard that I had slipped off into a little catnap.  As I woke up, I was puzzled at what was coming over the P.A. system.

It was unlike our school principal to broadcast anything over the P.A. except for the normal morning announcements about what was happening in school or the date of the next football game.  The last special event I remember hearing broadcast was when John Glenn entered outer space.  That was important to the people of Huntsville since they had played such a large part in making it all happen.   This announcement was not about a space shot, though, and I sat dazed and tried to listen to what was happening.  There seemed to be about as much confusion on the announcement as there was in my head.  It finally came to me the president had been shot.  Yes, he said it, "John F. Kennedy has been shot."

The report was coming from Dallas.  We all listened intently.  We forgot about geometry and naps for a while trying to hear what was happening.  It all seemed as if it wasn't really happening at all but was still a part of a dream.  The reporter kept talking about gunshots and hospitals and motorcades.  At some point he seemed more interested in keeping up his talk and keeping the radio reports going than giving any real facts.

At the time, I probably knew as much sitting in geometry class at Lee High School as the reporter did in Dallas.  We continued to listen intensely, assuring each other that we were really hearing what we thought we were hearing.  Little talk was going on in the room, except repeating what was being broadcast.  There were few speculations, no "what will happens."  We just sat there listening.  The length of time we listened, waiting to hear something definite, is sketchy.  I do remember the words that finally came over the P.A.   "John F. Kennedy is dead."

I couldn't actually grasp the meaning of that short statement.  High school kids didn't worry about who was in charge of the country or things like that.  We wondered who shot him, and why, but we didn't think the political situation was anything to worry about.  It never really dawned on me, or any of us I suppose, what a change in our own lives would come about because of the shooting.  We didn't know how serious it was to lose a president while we were in the middle of the Cold War.

Not everyone in Alabama was sad, I suppose.  Most Alabamians were a little put out with Kennedy because of his civil rights policies.  Some downright hated him for it.  On more that one occasion I had heard jokes like "Why do they call Massachusetts, Machusetts now?  They took the ass out and put him in the White House." Jokes like that were common in Alabama in 1963.  One of my favorite uncles was very much anti-Kennedy.  He started out being anti-Catholic, but religion was not the key issue.  For white folks, it was popular to be anti-Kennedy in Alabama in the early Sixties.

The reports continued from Dallas for the rest of the day and were varied and vague.  Johnson was sworn in as President.  They had found a gun.  The name Lee Harvey Oswald kept being mentioned in the news.  I wondered why he was always called Lee Harvey Oswald, and not just Lee Oswald.  Why did they insist on using his whole name?

For those of us who sat there in school, that day would be a milestone in history for years to come.  This would be the day that marked the difference of the young and old.  To my generation, those who were not yet born or not old enough to remember what they were doing on the day Kennedy was shot would forever be labeled as infants.  Those in school, in any grade, would be a part of our generation.  Those who were older than us would continue to be our parent's generation.  Pearl Harbor would remain their milestone.  They had a name for their day.  It is "a day that will live in infamy."  We would have no such rhetorical name.  We only remember it as the end of Kennedy's Camelot.  It's a common bond between those of us that lived the day.

In the margin of my English book I made a simple entry that stated "November 22, 1963.  President John F. Kennedy was assassinated today."  Those words were the start of my recordings of my high school life.

It was important to me and shall continue to be.  The shooting showed me that the world was not just one big happy place.  It showed me that evil existed in the world, and that the evil could reach out from a place as far away as Dallas, Texas, and affect me.  I hated it for that.  I hated it for forcing me to face reality.

This Week's AI Song

"November Skies"

It was a normal day, the school bell rang

Books in our arms, walking with our gang

Chatter filled the halls, the world felt whole

But news came through, it froze our souls

[Prechorus]

Dallas whispers turned to screams

A shattered world, a broken dream

[Chorus]

November skies, they wept so gray

The heart of a nation torn that day

A shot rang out, time stood still

Innocence lost, against our will

[Verse 2]

The radio crackled, the teacher’s voice fell

“President Kennedy’s gone,” she said, a mournful spell

Desks sat silent, no words to say

The future dimmed, hope slipped away

[Prechorus]

From Texas plains to mountain highs

Shock and sorrow filled our eyes

[Chorus]

November skies, they wept so gray

The heart of a nation torn that day

A shot rang out, time stood still

Innocence lost, against our will

The Wayback Machine

"Radar Men from the Moon"

 Chapter 11 - Planned Pursuit

We continue the serial this week, just like they did back in the movies during our times.

I hope some of you will share your own feelings about sitting in class and hearing about President Kennedy being shot. I would venture to say I am the only one of the group that wrote about it when it happened, but prove me wrong. I know everyone has some memory of it. What do you tell others when the subject of President Kennedy's assassination comes up? Have you ever shared your story with your kids or grandkids

Last Week's Questions, Answers, And Comments

Delores McBride Kilgore, LHS '66 , "Love it."

Eddie Jones,  LHS ‘66, "I am going to share this beautiful tribute that you produced on Facebook. I hope you don't mind. It brought a tear to my eye, especially the listing of the names, Thank you so much for your efforts, Tommy. You are really appreciated."

Mary Burns Cattadoris, LHS ‘65, "Tommy what a magnificent tribute you made to our beloved veterans.  Although I rarely submit anything to share I love your weekly posts.  Thank you so much!"

Skip Cook, LHS ‘64, "Veteran's Day was celebrated at Collins Cook's  (7 year old grand daughter) school - Gilchrist Elementary in Tallahassee.  All parent's and grand parent veterans are invited to attend the celebration  Veterans are encouraged to wear their uniform or a piece of clothing representing their branch of service.  Foolishly I attempted to put on an old fatigue shirt 1969 era. Appears that my weight had blossomed a bit over the years.   I did manage to get one arm in.  Holding that shirt brought back memories, and bonds developed.  The celebration was a parade through the halls of Gilchrist lined with students shouting "U-S-A!"  The parade ended in the lunch room/auditorium with short speeches by principal, school board member, and students.  One presenter spoke of the strong bonds that are developed between all those men and women that serve in the military.  Thanks to the efforts of Tommy and the Lee Lunch Bunch strong bonds continue to be developed between the classes of 1964-1967,  Although distance has kept me away from the reunions and lunches, I still feel that bond."

Mike Cotright, LHS ‘65, "Thank you Tommy...for your updated version of the LHS Veteran tribute - so beautifully done...and every year sharing that wonderful remembrance with us, lest we forget!"

Pam (Grooms) Smith, LHS ‘65, "Tommy, you do a phenomenal job recognizing our veterans and your AI song at the beginning was great. Thank you for your service and all you do for Lee High by keeping us informed."

Dink Hollingsworth, LHS '65, "I certainly appreciated the update to your Veteran’s Tribute. Your dedication to keeping our Fami-Lee alive and well is always appreciated and I see it as a Labor Of Love on your part. It is scary we will soon be approaching our 80’s. All My Respect."

Michael Crowl, LHS '65, "Thank all of you for your service. May all of you be blessed today and everyday forward! Y’all are all great Americans, pray one day all our people in our country will become patriots and support our way of living!"