From Deseret News archives:
Where were you?
Where were you when you heard that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated, and what was your reaction?
Carolyn Tanner Irish
Episcopal Diocese of Utah
"On Nov. 22, 1963, I was listening to the radio while ironing in my home in Ann Arbor, Mich. Hearing the news that President Kennedy had been shot, I ran to tell my husband at the Law School at the University of Michigan. We returned to our home and sat before the television set for the next 48 hours. It took many days to sink in, and in retrospect, we were most likely in shock for most of that time."
George Niederauer
Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City
"I had been ordained a priest for about a year and a half. I was at the Name of Jesus School in Los Angeles, California. I was sitting in my room reading and my phone rang and my mother called with the news. I turned on the TV. It was a Friday, about noon, in California. Then, everything kind of stopped for the weekend. . . . It was an enormous shock."
S.L. businessman and Utah Jazz owner
"I was at work at Mountain States Bindery, 1900 W. North Temple. . . . When I first heard the news, it was simply that the president had been shot. I recall thinking, 'Boy, I hope he's OK.' Two or three hours later the news came that he was dead and everyone was in shock."
Utah governor
She was in the kitchen at her home, wearing a plaid maternity shirt, when she heard the sad news on the television. She said she recalls events very well because she was pregnant with her sixth child, born less than a week later, on Nov. 27.
senator (R-Utah)
"I was sitting in my father's office in Washington, D.C., as an administrative assistant. I was on the phone to my stockbroker in Salt Lake City. He interrupted me to say that President Kennedy had been shot and asked me what I knew. I hadn't heard anything yet. . . . We didn't know if he was dead or wounded for a long time. . . . Naturally, I was filled with wonder and anxiousness. . . . We were glued to the TV all weekend."
Utah state historian
"I was a senior at Emery County High School in Castle Dale. I had just finished my American Problems class and was in my type class when the intercom came on . . . and our principal A.G. Kinder announced that President Kennedy had been shot. . . . It was as though a dark and oppressive cloud had rolled down off the Wasatch Plateau to envelop the high school and all of us in it."
former Utah governor
