Where Were You? Remembering JFK

CAPE MAY COUNTY – Nov. 22 is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the 35th president of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. People on the streets in Cape May County were asked for their recollections of that day. Here is what those questioned answered.
Carlyn Conover from Rio Grande recalls that she was in high school on the day the president was shot. “I was in Catholic school and I remember that after we heard the news we were all standing there in shock, horrified. We couldn’t believe it. We, our generation or even the one before, no one had seen a president killed.” She continued, “It was an ‘Oh My God’ moment … and then crying … and when we went home there was more disbelief and crying. The Catholic population was devastated.”
John Cehlar who lives in Villas recalls that he was a young man and on the job in Philadelphia on Nov. 22, 1963. “I was working at Rohm and Haas in the laboratory and there was a radio on in the head office. When we heard the news, the collective reaction was ‘WHAT?!’ I believe President Kennedy was someone who cared. I think he was trying to turn the country around.
He did programs such as the Peace Corps and he was fiscally conservative. When Lyndon Johnson took over it became about Big Business and power politics.”
Joan Nash of Middle Township said that on that day she was out with her late husband. “We stopped at a bar for lunch and the television was on. First they said the president was shot and then he was dead. It was shock and disbelief. After that a lot of people had conspiracy theories.”
Mary Ann DiMartinis, a Pennsylvanian on a weekend trip to the shore said, “I was shopping at Pomeroys and they announced it over the PA system. I just stopped, like everybody else. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I just started to cry. The country did change a lot. I think we became very negative and down on ourselves from then on.”
Rachel Kaye, 91 years old, was travelling with Mary Ann DiMartinis and remembers that moment very clearly. “I was watching “As The World Turns” on CBS. You only had three channels back then and all black and white on a tiny screen. There was one of those bulletins interrupting the show. Then Walter Cronkite announced that President Kennedy had been shot three times. He survived the war and then to get shot at home. … He was of our generation and made us optimistic and feeling young, then in a moment it was over. After that the morals of the country went into the gutter.”
Felicia Smith of Whitesboro was too little for school but she recalls how unsettled the adults in the house became. “I was home and I remember how upset the adults in the house were. They were all saying that he was a good man and I think he was. Then you had the murders of Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert Kennedy and Malcolm X by what I would call bigger forces. They were all good men and the country lost a lot when they died.”
John Garish, a Court House resident was fresh out of the Marine Corps in 1963. “I was working for A.C. Anderson at the Cape May Airport when the announcement came over the loudspeaker that the president had been shot. It was a shock all right. We thought maybe it was the Russians. Things changed after that, and not for the better. We became secularists.”
Patricia Vallone of Middle Township was doing her student teaching at Delsea Regional. “I was in the faculty lounge when the news announced what happened. Everybody sat awestruck. We couldn’t believe it happened.”
Bob Williams a Lower Township resident was a high school student in Indiana. “I was in high school and I recall that as soon as we heard, there started a lot of speculation. Being a Catholic in high school and knowing all the anti-Catholic sentiment, we thought, they’re never gonna let him finish. … Under Eisenhower you had the era of good feelings and both him and Kennedy had a more gentile presidency, after that we started going downhill as a country.”
Kathleen Bresan of Dennis Township recalls being in middle school. “I was sitting on the school bus when the bus driver told us that the president was shot. People started crying and weeping. I remember feeling numb. I was already dealing with problems at home and then this happened. I was young. Then there was nothing but the funeral on TV for three days. School was off. It was a very, very sad, sad time. I like the way Kennedy promoted and pursued the space program – going to the moon and beyond. We’ve lost all that now. We don’t even have a real space program anymore.”
Bill Woods of North Wildwood was in grammar school, parochial school in Philadelphia. “It was after lunch because we always went home for lunch and we were back in school. Sister Marian Regina answered the knock at the door. When she came back in the room she put her head down on the desk and her shoulders were shaking. It looked like she was crying. In a couple of minutes she stood and told us that something had happened to President Kennedy and we were being sent home. We said a prayer and went home. It was very quiet in the whole school. At home my parents were in disbelief. My dad was a WWII vet and a devout Catholic. He said ‘Everything will be different from now on.’ He was right. The country has gone downhill since then.”
Rick Dean from Lower Township remembered being a junior in high school. “It was early afternoon and his brother came into the room and said the president had a terrible accident and that the country was in danger and so we were all being sent home. I lived in Philadelphia then and when I got home everybody was in front of the black and white big console TV and my Mom was crying. My Aunt May was saying, ‘I knew they’d kill the first Catholic.’ Yeah I’ll never forget that day. No more Camelot.”
Barbara Beitel a Court House resident was a college co-ed at the time. “I was at Fairleigh-Dickenson and I was in-between classes. We were milling about in the hallways and there was an announcement that the president had been shot and then we were all shocked and horrified. But they didn’t say right away that President Kennedy was dead and we went back to class. It was so surreal. You almost didn’t believe it. They were very scary times and the country was changed forever.”
Bill Candell of Middle Township was way too young to remember the day President Kennedy was shot but he has a more unique connection to the 35th president than most. “I was three years old when Kennedy was shot. My Mom was at work.” But in 1960 when he was literally a babe in arms his mom took him to Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Kennedy was campaigning in Philadelphia and stopped by Independence Hall to shake hands. Candall was one of two babies picked for the presidential candidate to hold and kiss. “Yes, I was kissed by President Kennedy.” There are not many people who can say that.
To contact Helen McCaffrey, email hmccaffrey@cmcherald.com.