THE DALLAS DAY PRESIDENT JFK WAS SHOT

This is the result of my interview for the Dallas Morning News to be published on the 50th Anniversary Date of the JFK's passing here in Dallas.

It was the "Shot Heard around the World"---

and the silver trigger was pulled in Downtown Dallas.

My Dad was right there to witness the Presidential Motorcade as it advanced down the crowded Dallas city streets.  His eyes made contact with President Kennedy's just before JFK's were closed forever.

The day President Kennedy died---I became an adult man--both emotionally and literally.

It was November 22, 1963 and II was a theological college student turning age 21 that same fall.  Now I am age 71.

My father (Rev. Raymond Rose) was Senior Pastor of the Stevens Park Assemblies of God Church on West Davis Street and Hampton Road in South Dallas.

A few months later, I would join the Pastoral staff as youth pastor.

On that fateful November day, I was attending classes at my Theological Seminary and all of a sudden the news media waves jammed with the stunning words:" JFK gunned down in Downtown Dallas".

I paled in panic. 

 All of Dallas panicked! 

It seemed like pandemonium spread throughout the streets of America.

My own father's church was located only a couple miles from there and he had a luncheon appointment at a restaurant downtown along the parade route. Was he OK?

Our entire campus went into panic mode as if precursor for the 9-11 Terrorists Attack that would occur years later.  What horrors could happen next?

While a big black blanket of Terror seemed to shroud the city of Dallas, it also circumvented local college and high school campuses as well.  My own younger brother David, was in the 10th grade at Bryan Adams High School in Dallas. He told me:"We were at lunch when panic set in.  Kids with transistor radios started hollering:"The President's been shot"!

We were all sent back to our home rooms listening to portable radios until the school bell rang for dismissal.

 We were told there were Nuns available there to counsel any students experiencing personal trauma.  

I immediately called home to Mom to make sure Dad was back OK. He was, thank God"

At our college campus, brightly burning candles were lit in Dorm rooms and the chapel were we all huddled in groups for mass silent prayers. We prayed for the Presidential family and for God to protect America in this horrific time of crisis.

How could this have happened in the "Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave"?

We wondered:" Was God still God? Was He still up there?"

Our faith was severely tried and tested, but our hearts remained strong and true.  

Yes, the year was 1963 when I dramatically became a  man on the day the President died in Downtown Dallas----and History was changed forever.

2013 by DRR

Member Texas State Historical Society

Author's Note

'ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU, BUT WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY--- resident John F. Kennedy

Reviews

[Sami Khalil]

Amazing that you and your father witnessed history in the making. He was ( still is )admired and beloved by so many people in the USA and the world for standing up to communism and setting the goal of a nation to go to the moon. He quoted his famous saying from Gibran Khalil Gibran verbatim which is : Ask not ...but most people don't know that . I have watching those specials on TV about him...Thank you for honoring him and your country...:)...................

[poetdoug]

Thank you Sami for your most interesting and encouraging review. Much appreciated my friend.

[Sami Khalil]

You are welcome...:)......................

[Sami Khalil]

^^~^^ :>).......................

[Sami Khalil]

Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; is the second, then you are an oasis in a desert.
Gibran Khalil Gibran in : The New Frontier ( 30 years before JFK speech which he rephrased )

[poetdoug]

Thank you for the context Sami.

[Sami Khalil]

You are welcome...:)................

[Patricia Wedel]

Yes... Doug... we all remember exactly
where we were when the news broke...
Now we live still in an uncertain world.
There is only the hope of eternal light
to protect us. Thank you for being a
Beacon that shines brightly. truly... Pat

[poetdoug]

Thank you Pat and Merry Christmas to you and yours

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Hi Doug, so interesting to hear a personal perspective from someone not so involved in the motorcade and the bunting. I recall the day vividly even though I was only a boy at the time. The shock was palpable here in the UK and still reverbates today.

[poetdoug]

Thank you John. It was the shot heard around the world. When we visited in Europe, it was interesting that we were questioned about WHO SHOT JR? (DALLAS TV series) than JFK.
Thank you for your interest and review my friend.

[Lydia Shutter]

I was only 10 years old and in fifth grade when JFK was assassinated, but I remember the moment I heard about it as clear as if it happened yesterday. I remember my parents crying and being glued to the TV set. I remember watched Jack Ruby kill Lee Harvey Oswald. It was as if our lives had gone into slow motion on that Friday in November. When I visited Dallas, I went to the grassy knoll and the book depository and it was so moving. Your article is a well written remembrance and tribute to a great man who was taken too soon. Lydi**

[poetdoug]

Thank you. It is a date to remember well.

[Tom Rouse]

It was only a few months later that I would discover America and I was born into a country changed. We were no longer a naive and innocent culture. There was more cynicism and suspicion in this nation than there was just a few years previously. I have visited the square where he was gunned down, and conspiracy or not, it doesn't matter who shot or how many bullets, that time, in that square, changed all of our lives....

[poetdoug]

You are so right Tom. Thank you for reading

[Coyote Poetry]

I remember this day. I was five years old. My babysitter was crying all day. I asked why she was crying. She told me they killed our president. I agree with your story. The world changed this day. He was a feared man. Had great dreams and already did many good things. I wonder how the world would be today if he lived? Thank you for sharing the story. We must remember the great leader who held dreams of peace and honor over self-gain.
Coyote

[poetdoug]

Thanks for your interesting sharing.

[Baby Ricochet]

Oswald was trained in the corps so the man knew how to use a rifle effectively. It's hard for people to believe it's just that easy to shoot a famous person in the head, hence all the conspiracy theories. Throw crazy a*s Jack Ruby into the mix it's no wonder half the US population still doesn't believe Oswald was the trigger man.

[poetdoug]

YOU ARE SO RIGHT

[Sheila Kline]

Thank you for sharing your father's and your story of the memories of this day which shall always be remembered in our history!! You have made it so very personal with details about your father, and your work/service and how others reacted when hearing the news! And congratulations on having the story published, with you the person interviewed/writer. A wonderful piece of history, and we are fortunate to have the opportunity to have such a personal look at such a sad, sad day!!

[poetdoug]

I am thankful for your positive review. Thank you my friend.