1. Space Shuttle Challenger explosion, 1/28/1986

2. I was in First Grade when Kennedy was shot. At the announcement our teacher, Sister Ann started crying. All the adults were crying. I knew it was something bad and remember looking out the window and wondering if we would be safe. We already were doing civil defense drills in case of “the bomb” so we were already worried. I remember the three days of mourning and watching the funeral with my family. It was sobering at 6 years old. I have happy memories of our landing on the moon in 1969 and seeing Neil Armstrong step out onto the moon surface. Such an exciting moment. I lived through Kent State, Watergate, Vietnam, Bobby Kennedy, the Challenger explosion, the Oklahoma City bombing, Columbine and so many others. Culminating with 9/11. I am sure my knowledge of so many tragedies is because television was introduced just before I was born and we now had a front row seat to them. I know there were many GREAT moments too, but it’s interesting to note that the ones I remember most are the tragedies.

3. When President Kennedy was assassinated a runner, an upper grade student, delivered the news. My second grade teacher, Mrs. Curtis, broke down in tears. I’ve lived through lots of momentous events but this one really sticks with me. Perhaps it was seeing her cry during class…

4. 911–who could believe it? Surely, it was a small plane out of control. Then, NO, it wasn’t. I was afraid to walk up the hill to my 3-story office in the University–felt like a skyscraper. I turned the horror of that day and the terrible losses into my second book. My question was, What if two people, who barely knew each other but hated their current lives and who worked in a World Trade Center Building, simply took this opportunity to disappear? My research for that book of actual accounts of that fateful day cemented the event to me in a way that, along with many others of our age, WE WILL NEVER FORGET!

5. The fall of the Berlin Wall & the collapse of the Soviet Union & of the Iron Curtain. I think of them as one big event, since they’re related & happened so close together. It stands out to me because I was still a kid & the world (not to mention maps, globes, & encyclopedias) was changing so drastically. I also thing of the song “Right Here, Right Now” by Jesus Jones, about watching the Berlin Wall falling on tv. It was so profound, especially when the Soviet Union fell just two years later.

6. As I am 87 I have lived through so much history. Spent three days mourning JFK. January 6th had me crying. Stand outs for me personally, my husband was in the Air Force during the Cold War. We were in Alaska and he got an urgent call to come to the base. We said goodbye’s in case it was a nuclear bomb possibility. After the Good Friday Quake in Alaska I was living in Georgia and was not able to find out about my family for days. My brother had been in his fishing boat in Seward Bay and had a harrowing story of surviving the Tsunami. And I have lived through two volcanic eruptions of volcanic ash. One in Alaska in the 195o’s and Mt.St.Helens in Eastern Washington.

7. JwFK assination. Martin Luther King march and I have a dream speech both left an indelible mark on me. They will be in my memory for a lifetime

8. I was 10 when JFK was shot, I was at school and we were all told to go home. We lived in a small town in New Mexico. I couldn’t understand why the teacher were upset and crying. My family moved a lot while I was growing up and my parents were not involved in polities. I remember my dad watching the moon landing in 1969 on our black and white TV. The one I remember the most was the Vietnam war which stated in 1961. I was married in 1971 and my older brother was in Vietnam at the time. It changed his life, not in a good way. Many of his friends didn’t make it home. Am sure their were many more but being young,then a very young wife then mother events in the world didn’t enter my days much. Not like know when we all watch the news every day. Oh, to be able to go back to the simpler days. Unfortunately I have lived in cities were some of the worst school shooting took place. One never forgets then.

9. I was in grade school in our gym class as the announcement came over the speaker telling us the president JFK had been assassinated. It suddenly became very quiet in the gym and our teacher began to cry. I also remember the 9-11 event. It was the day before my daughter and I were leaving for Germany. I had taken that day off to finish packing etc and my husband and I were in the kitchen with the TV news on when that was reported. We were so shocked and of course our plans were cancelled in the process. It was heartbreaking to hear and then as I was a grandmother we went to New York with our grandson and viewed memorial. It was so very sad.

10. I was 5 years old when JFK got shot but I remember it so well and where I was. I was staying at my aunt’s house because my dad & mom was working. I remember her talking about it. I was shocked that someone shot a President.

11. The assassination of JFK first. I was in my 2nd year of college. Hurricane David and 3 weeks later Hurricane Frederick (June, 1975, we had just moved to the Dominican Republic as missionaries when these came, considered the largest at that time) 9/11 Twin Tower attack. My husband & I were painting the outside of a client’s house. When we went inside for something, they had just occurred. We watched for a while but had to get back to work so were clued to the tv when we got home. The most memorable are JFK and the Twin Towers.

12. I was only 3 when JFK was killed, but I remember watching the funeral on TV. I remember when RFK and Martin Luther King Jr were killed. At the time it didn’t make a big impression on me. Looking back now I just wonder at why people hate so much that they can do that. There were other history making events throughout my life, but I think the Challenger disaster really sticks in my head. I was pregnant with my third son going to the doctor when I heard the news. It’s always one of those life events that has stayed with me.

13. first one I remember is assassination of MLK and the Apollo 11 landing

14. I remember two events especially. The Challenger explosion happened while I was a teacher’s aide in Alexandria, Louisiana. The substitute teacher for our class had taken the class to the library to watch the take-off. He came back to the room where I was working with a couple of deaf kids and told me the Challenger had exploded. The other event is the 9/11 terror attacks. We were homeschooling our daughters and got a call from our church that they had started the prayer chain for “what’s happening in New York.” I asked what was happening and the lady on the phone told me to turn on the television. We didn’t turn it off again until late that night. I remember how my heart hurt to see the names of the passengers on the plane crawl across the screen. I also remember the disbelief and horror when the Twin Towers began falling AFTER the firefighters and EMT’s had run inside.

15. When I was young my mom used to watch soap operas over lunch hour when she breast fed my baby brother. I remember it was a fun time playing at her feet. One day she let out a gasp and started to cry and cry and of course I was very worried. I got up and ran to her side and she said “Oh no, oh no the President has been shot! “. It was the day John F Kennedy died. I was five years old and never forgot it. How the room looked as I stood at her shoulder watching the TV, the intensity of the story, how upset my mother was, or that in a horrible situation she said the best thing to do is pray., and that’s what we did.

16. I remember hearing on the tv about how JFK was the first Catholic president. I was 6 years old and didn’t even know what a Catholic was. The first big historic event was when JFK was assassinated. I was in 5th grade. A teacher came into our room and whispered something to our teacher. They both were crying, and they told us what had happened. From then until the end of Monday, we watched most of the coverage of this event at home. We had just got home from church when Oswald was shot. Being born in 1953, I lived through many other historic events but JFK assassination was the first big one.

17. I remember the moon landing. I was 5 and the whole school was watching it on a tv I think. All I remember was for a 5 year old it was the most boring thing to watch (sitting there not really understanding what was happening). I remember in grade 3 we use to listen to news ok maybe not us but the teacher did at lunch and I remember Watergate and also the end of the Vietnam war. I can remember 50 years ago when Cyclone Tracey hit Darwin Christmas day.
    I think One of the biggest events was the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer I still remember the day she was killed. It was a Sunday for us around lunch time after church we had the tv on when the breaking news happen.

18. Probably the killing of JFK. I was at work when someone shouted that Kennedy had just been shot. Needless to say people were nervous the following days.

19. I was a teenager when the Columbus Day storm hit in Oregon. I was sitting in the basement on a couch with my siblings watching the trees across the yard at the neighbors house. They were at least 75-100 feet tall. The wind was so bad that my mother made us go to the basement because she was afraid the trees would hit the house and do damage to it. The trees were bowing in the wind and I remember when they did uproot themselves and as they were falling we were all screaming. The trees only brushed the house and did no damage. Yet in our backyard an English Walnut tree completely uprooted itself. Although my dad put it back in place and covered it in dirt it didn’t bear nuts again until ten years later!

20. I remember the day JFK was assassinated. I was in school and the classroom phone rang. The teacher answered and after she hung up she turned to our class and with tears in her eyes she told the president had been killed. In the days that followed my family watched the funeral on television as well as the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald.
    Another event that stands out in my mind is sitting with my family watching the moon landing and seeing Neil Armstrong step out onto the surface of the moon.

21. At school, the halls buzzed with nervous energy. President Kennedy announced the discovery of Soviet missiles in Cuba, and fear of nuclear war hung heavy in the air. My teacher tried to maintain a sense of normalcy, but he could not even hide his concern. Ny father began building a fallout shelte rin our farms root cellar. My father reminded us God is our refuge and strength. At school, we participated in duck-and-cover drills, huddling under our desks at the sound of the alarm. At home, we helped our parents organize supplies like canned goods, drinking water, bottles of blest holy water, candles, matches, radio with extra batteries, blankets, clothes, a pail to releive ourselves just to name a few things. We even practiced walking home from school taking shortcuts over the farm fields to get home quickly in case of an emergency. October drew to a close, news came that the Soviet Union had agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba. We didn’t remove th esupplies in the fallout shelter for a few months.

22. I have memories of an uncle in the Korean War. My parents did not talk about it much in front of us kids (I was about 4 when it began). My uncle came home safe and sound and brought me a satin jacket from Korea, which I wish I still had. Of course, I remember Viet Names also.

23. I was also in kindergarten during the Cuban missile crisis, I remember we had to have bomb drills. When the alarm went off we were supposed to duck and cover. I was standing at an easel ( painting a masterpiece I’m sure) and crawling under it for cover. Not the best choice!

24. Was in the Dominican Republic…. When the us went to help out…heard a bunch of tanks coming down our road…they said American go inside your home and stay.

25. Two events stick out in my mind. The first is the killing of JFK. I heard about it as I was leaving the cafeteria at Blackburn College my freshman year. It was a Friday afternoon. I spent the rest of the afternoon in a classmate’s room listening to the details. The whole campus was glued to the televisions that week-end, including the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald. I now live in Ft Worth where JFK was shot and where Oswald is buried.
    The second event was the killing of Martin Luther King, Jr. I was listening to the car radio as I was leaving the salon where I’d gotten my hair done. This was a Thursday evening. The next day at work everyone talked about it. The city of Chicago was quiet that weekend. The normally busy freeways were practically empty. The following weeks brought riots in some of the black neighborhoods.

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