Where were you?

Where were YOU on these special dates in World, US and Texas history ... ???

November 22, 1963 -

I was sitting next to Debbie Reid in Mrs. Worthington’s second grade class. We had two-person desks and we sat in alphabetical order. She came in and announced "President kennedy has been shot from a building in Dallas." I had a vision of Texas, having been there a few years earlier. It was hot and dry. My 8 year old mind wondered what the president of the United States was doing climbing on a building ... ???

April 4, 1968 -

Dad and I were driving home from the First Congregation Church where we had been getting things ready for our annual Boy Scout Fish Fry. Having been so close to the riots the year before, we didn't know what to expect. The Fish Fry was our big money raiser and it went on, quietly, and without any problems.

June 4, 1968 -

I had left the radio on all night as I had fallen asleep listening to Tiger baseball. News of the shooting seemed surreal and just another sad moment in American history.

October 10, 1968 -

We listened and watched the game in various classrooms at Ben Franklin Junior High. I still think back to this experience every time the Astros make the play-offs and know that is why places like Detroit, Chicago, St Louis and Kansas City are great baseball towns and Houston is just another big city. I could run home during the commercial break between innings. I saw Tim McCarver pop-up to Bill Freehan - one catcher to another - as the Tigers because the first team to come back from a 3-1 deficit to win the World Series.

July 20, 1969 - 

My dad and I were in our living room in Wayne watching on a B&W TV. School was out. Donnagail and mom were in West Virginia. Bob Costas asked Marilu Henner what SHE was doing on this date ... uhhh no, she wasn't watching TV.

March 17, 1971 -

This day at the time didn't mean much to me. I was probably playing baseball. But Craig Dix was shot down in Cambodia, along with Bobby Harris, James Hestand, and Richard Bauman. I wore three different POW-MIA bracelets for Craig, a native of Livonia, MI. The last one broke many years ago but I still have the pieces and I remember him every St. Patrick's Day. I finally visited his name on The Wall in November 2008.

April 8, 1974 -

I had turned down a date to go to movie to stay home with my sister and watch a special edition of NBC Sports as they covered Hank Aaron's quest. It happened quickly ... as Milo Hamilton made the call on the radio and Curt Gowdy was the TV voice ... "there's a new home run king of all time, and it's Henry Aaron." I only saw him play one time in person, as a DH for the Milwaukee Brewers versus the Tigers. I have met him on four other occasions. 

August 8, 1974 -

I was working security at Metropolitan Airport, my first summer job after graduating high school. We all knew the resignation was inevitable. I saw it on a small TV in the Northwest baggage claim office. Our long national nightmare was over.

August 16, 1977 -

I was at home in Wayne. I'd taken summer school classes at SHSU and was home briefly and was flying back to Texas for my senior year the next day. I was sitting in the kitchen and listening to WJR when the news came. I had driven past Graceland a few years before and have made several visits since but I haven't taken the the tour - Patty and Carolyn have.

January 25, 1986 -

I had taken a job with Ribnick & Associates and was in their office in Houston. Shuttle launches had been pretty common, and this wasn't covered on regular TV or even radio. Greg walked in and said he just heard it on the radio. We all crowded around the TV that was now on "breaking news" mode. Patty had made one of the initial applications for "Teacher in Space" and I'd help her fill out the application and write a proposal about music in weightlessness. A few days later we were at NASA for the national tribute service.

March 2, 1986 -

With Neal and Sally, Patty and I went to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo to see Willie Nelson. Who else could perform on this date - the 150th anniversary of the birth of Texas. God Bless Texas!

September 25, 1986 - 

I was there!!!! It was an afternoon game and Patty couldn't go but Sally had gotten free tix and she and Neal and I were in the front row of the mezzanine between home and first. About the sixth inning Neal and I looked at the scoreboard - no hits - and then looked at each other with wide eyes. Shhhh!! Don't talk about it, I told him - bad luck!

September 11, 2001 - 

I had just dropped Carolyn off at Briscoe JH and turned on KTRH radio. I could hear Charlie Gibson reporting and realized the station, then an ABC affiliate, had picked up the Good Morning America feed. I listened as I drove to a meeting with Rose Pena at Borders in Houston and watched the second tower collapse on a TV in her office.

February 1, 2003 -

I was in class at Alief Hastings working on my teaching certification. I heard another student say something about the space shuttle was lost because of a text that interrupted the class (a loud alert sound). I called my mom and mother-in-law and got the news because I knew they’d be watching Fox or CNN. I mentioned it to the teacher and she told me to tell the class what had happened. Terry was watching the the sky in Arlington and say it break up. Pieces of the Columbia fell on my in-law's property in Rusk. The command capsule and bodies were found in Hemphill, where we had lived and worked for 2 years.

June 25, 2009 -

I had just finished watching the Astros beat the KC Royals at Minute Maid Park and I'd walked over the the Inn at the Ball Park and was watching CNN while surfing in the a/c lobby, waiting for Neal to pick me up.