One of the days at school I was so impacted by was in November of 1963. I was in the eighth grade at Valley View School and Mrs. Helen Simons was my home room teacher.

Our class had just been excused to go to lunch when suddenly the intercom came on with a message. We were told that everyone was to return to their classrooms.

We quietly sat down in our seats, all of us staring at Mrs. Simons wondering what she was about to say. She could hardly get the words out and we could see tears welling up in her eyes while she told us that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. After the awful news, all of us were dismissed from school for the rest of the day.

It was a wet, cloudy day and while I was walking home I couldn't keep from wondering where America was going.

Before leaving school we were studying the preamble to the United States Constitution and the Gettysburg Address.

Naturally when I got home all that was on the television was the news of the President. It was on for days. I thought to myself, 'How can I study and memorize all that we are supposed to during such a distressing time?'

To this day some forty plus years later, I still relate to that day in November, as does the media.

I relive that day in school, the long walk home and where history took us then and where it's taking us now.