I was only six years old on the infamous day when our dear and beloved President Kennedy was assassinated, but I can remember it very well to this very day. At the time I was in first grade sitting behind my desk at Montezuma Elementary School in Redding, California. All of a sudden, the school principal came on the PR-system to make an important announcement. In a somber tone of voice which was monotone and sounded very distant with lots of static, he simply said "the president has been shot." Short and to the point and nothing more. We were all stunned to the hilt and if my memory serves me correctly, my teacher started to cry. Afterwards we were all sent home, and I remember watching the news the rest of the day on our black-and-white television set downstairs. In fact alot of the memories of that week are monochrome and with color. Up to and including the funeral with the horse-drawn carriage with the flag-draped casket on it. This was my first recollection of being confronted with the hard facts of reality.