Today is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
The 35th president was fatally shot on Nov. 22, 1963 in Dallas in one of the defining moments of the 20th century.
We asked residents of Prince George to contact us with their recollections of that day.
Here's the answers we received:
"I was in Scotland near Denny in Sterlingshire on a 500-pig farm, when
(I) heard the news that Kennedy had been shot. Me and my soon-to-be wife, Anne, (had gone) off to get feed for the young pigs on the farm.
"Upon our return (my) mother, who cooked on a coal stove in a house with no electricity and heated by a coal fire, told (me) Kennedy was dead. Everyone was very shocked to hear the news as President Kennedy was very well liked."
- Tom Whyte
"I was working as a stenographer for Seagram Distillers in downtown Toronto. During that lunch hour when this shooting was first reported, I was covering for our receptionist/switchboard operator and the entire switchboard lit up with customers and wives wanting to give the news to the salesmen in the office.
"Downtown Toronto was buzzing with this incredible news. Our office was right beside the Toronto Stock Exchange and just down the street from the Toronto Star newspaper. Many people headed there for updated information.
"That evening and the following few days, everyone was glued to their television as further astonishing incidents occurred as well. I remember it being a very sad time, especially seeing little John Jr. saluting as he saw his father's coffin."
- Judy Smith
"I was 22 years old, so I remember very well where I was on that day. My home was Toronto and I worked for the Park Plaza Hotel handling reservations. We had the radio on as we worked, shocked at the shooting and hoping John Kennedy would survive."
"I was on the phone to an American counterpart when the news came that Kennedy had died and I told her what I had just heard. She began to sob and I remember many of us crying. As I walked home afterwards through the city streets, there were people crying and others looked stunned. Unlike the usual hustle and bustle there was only silence and a feeling that the city had come to a stop. I wasn't a very worldly 22 year old and didn't entertain what it might mean to the world, but did realize that no one was truly safe."
- Jeannette Paterson
"I was here in PG, having driven my first car, a brand new Plymouth Valiant, which I had just bought from Stan Wettlaufer of Kodiak Motors. I was delivering a batch of fresh pies from our family business, Ritz Bakery, to Simon Fraser Hotel's restaurant (now called Days Inn).
"When I entered the kitchen of the hotel, the manager Mr. Grauer came rushing red-faced towards me and I thought: "Oh, oh, was something wrong with the last batch of pies?" But the pies were not on his mind. "Have you heard the big news?" he said.
"I shook my head. 'President Kennedy has been shot!' I was shocked and incredulous.
"Then both of us speculated on who had done the deed. I felt a great loss about JFK, who was liked and admired by most Canadians, and I feared that a nuclear war could be imminent."
- Dag Westgaard
"I was working as a telephone operator and radio dispatcher on a sugar cane plantation in Guyana. I turned on my transistor radio while lying in bed. I was listening to a story about the president of the United States being shot.
"At first I felt it was a BBC radio drama, because our country was once British and it was common practice to listen to radio shows that seem realistic.
"Still thinking that it was a BBC radio show, the story fascinated me and I took my little transistor radio to the backyard bathroom and even listened to it while having a shower. It was not until I went to work that evening and spoke with telephone operators in the city, that I realized the story was for real.
"It was a sad time for many of us in British Guyana, because we were also experiencing much violence due to racial differences. In the days following President Kennedy's death, there were many church services and prayers for his family."
- Vince Ramcharran
"I was 10 years old and a Grade 6 student at Franklin Street Public School in Markham, Ontario. It was a sunny autumn day in Markham. After lunch, there was a telephone call to the school's office which was next door to our classroom. Our teacher, Mrs. Pashler, went to the office and then returned to the class.
"She had a shocked look on her face and said to the class,'Someone has shot President Kennedy'. My classmate Hayley Wilson ran home to get a radio so that we could listen to the news.
"Although I was only 10, I was aware of the importance of the day and that it would be a day that I would likely never forget. After school, I ran home to watch the events on the American television stations broadcasting from Buffalo, New York. There was such chaos and sorrow.
"Then there were the images of Jackie Kennedy in her blood stained outfit (on black and white TV). Lyndon Johnson, who seemed like an old man, was sworn in as the new president.
"Over the next few days, we all watched the funeral and little John-John giving a salute to his father's coffin. I was too young to understand the impact that JFK's assassination would have on the greater world."
- Craig Norton
"I was at St. Joseph's Catholic high school in Edmonton when the announcement of Kennedy's death came over the public address system.
"Everyone was told to go back to their homeroom, so we went. It was very solemn and some girls were sobbing and everyone was teary eyed.
"They had prayers at the chapel that was on school property, where people could light a candle, pay their respects and have a moment of quiet and time to reflect.
"I remember it very clearly as we all stared at the box (PA system speaker) in homeroom like it was a person. We all talked about the Cuban Missile Crisis, and it all came back that he was such a good Catholic man.
"I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a very sad day."
- George Lesniewicz
"I was in my kitchen sewing a nice maternity top for Christmas, as I was expecting my third baby in March. I lived on Ewert Street here in Prince George.
"I had the radio on, and when I heard of the assassination of President Kennedy, I thought: The world has gone crazy! And here I am bringing in new children to this crazy world.
"I did fear for the future then. When my youngest turns 50 next March 24, all my children are 50 and over, and they have had a very good life. It just proves that we should not worry too much about the future, but take one day at the time.
"The world has never been a stable place, and I feel it never will be, so we all have to do the best we can under the circumstances, and try to help the ones in need. "
- Elsa Aase
"When President Kennedy was shot, I was in high school in the United States and I was in the band. I played alto saxophone. We were in band practice and, of course, the doors were all closed and with all our noise we never heard the commotion around my school.
"When class was over and we came out, everyone was crying and the commotion was unreal. Many people rushed to tell the band class and of course we could hardly believe it and we would not have believed it if my friends would not have been crying. I cried too and as I write this the memories flood back and I get a lump in my throat.
"Being a young Catholic American at the time made it all more dramatic and a very serious and scary matter. We were a bit scared about what might happen next because we had that Cold War thing going on with Russia and the Cuban crisis was also a threat. Our young Catholic president was dead and he had small children.
"Basically every family got together and prayed."
- Kathy Nadalin
"I was 15 and in Grade 10 at Hundred Mile high school. They announced over the PA system the president had been shot in Dallas and had died and there was total shock, with people gasping in surprise. It was around 11:30 a.m. and buses were on their way to take us back home for the rest of the day.
"Even the teacher panicked and told the class the Russians were going to bomb us. It was something we just couldn't believe."
- Carol Meda
I was working as a stitcher at the Hartt Shoe and Boot Factory in Fredericton, New Brunswick and at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon the boss came and told us to shut our machines down so we could hear her and she told us the President had been shot and he was dead. I don't think there was a dry eye in the factory. It was a total shock.
"I thought he was a good man and he was a family man. I wasn't sure what was going to happen next but we were close to the states, being in New Brunswick. I remember that day as if it was yesterday.
"They shut the factory down because that's what they did back then. And we never left sight of the television for the rest of the night because we didn't know what was going to follow."
- Phyllis Pratt
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