Whitney Web Site
A start at my "Autobiography"
Selected stories by Dick Whitney
Nov 22, 1963 - A day of loss
As I write this recollection,
the 50th Anniversary of JFK’s assassination has just
come and gone and the memories of that day and the subsequent
weekend are fresh in my mind. I was 12 years old and I recall
hearing the news while School was still in session at Mary E.
Wells Jr. High School. I
recall my teacher saying the Kennedy had been shot, and we were
subsequently released from school.
My best friend Jeff McKinstry
and I began our walk home, and at that time we were not clear on
the condition of the President as we began our 15 minute walk
before being able to learn anything more. When we entered Jeff’s
house and turned on the TV, soon thereafter we heard of JFK’s
death. I recall Jeff’s reaction was to kick the back of their
recliner, thereby putting a large gouge in the back of the
fabric of the chair.
We all were stunned a could not
turn ourselves away from the television set for that entire
weekend. As has
been discussed, I must agree that this Assassination event was
the moment that we as a society lost our innocence and led to
the cynicism that pervades society since that time.
That night, I remember watching
as the plane landed in DC on its return from Dallas, and
watching as the casket was removed from Air Force One. I also recall watching
as Oswald was shot on Live TV and our entire family sitting in
disbelief as to what was happening. I subsequently learned that
the Husband of a good friend of my mothers, Fred Reinstein, was
the NBC Executive who was responsible for airing that Live TV
coverage and talking to him about it when we visited him in LA 3
years later.
A few days before the 50th
Anniversary of the Assassination, I was asked by a student
reporter who was interviewing me about JFK and his visit to
Southbridge in 1958, as that image is on my website and I have
related info on my website and on display on the Optical
Heritage Museum in the Southbridge History display room.
http://www.dickwhitney.net/RecollectionsSusanTaylorJFK%20Seaver%20the%20flood.html
One story which I learned via an
American Optical memo given to me a couple years ago pertains to
JFK’s liking of sample Executive Lenses (bifocals). JFK ordered
3 pair of AO Glass Executive lenses and the order was received
at our AO Southbridge Headquarters on the day of his
Assassination!!!
http://www.dickwhitney.net/RBWAORecollectionsLettersOfJFKandGlassesBeforeDeath.html