For many of the 'Baby Boom' generation, a turning point in our lives was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963. Like the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor and the Sept. 11, 2001, strikes, the Kennedy assassination was an event that changed history.

The Kennedy Presidency came to an abrupt, tragic end that November Friday. I was a month away from my 13th birthday, and was attending Northeast JHS, three blocks from our family home in Bethlehem.

I remember walking into my eighth grade math class expecting a test. Mr. Hinder began giving instructions for the test, and then an announcement came over the school intercom system about shots being fired at the president's motorcade in Dallas. Mr. Hinder continued to hand out the test, and we began while radio coverage continued over the school intercom. A little while later we heard those words, "John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President Of The United States, is dead at the age of 46." We were stunned, so much so that, if memory serves, only one person out of the entire class passed that test.

School was dismissed early, and we were told to return to our homerooms. That walk seemed to take forever. We were orderly, calm and quiet. I vividly recall passing two teachers in particular, and being struck by the looks on their faces. Mr. Calvo's face was so somber, and tears streamed down the cheeks of my 7th grade English teacher, Mrs. Dudding. That sight is forever etched in my mind.

The next three days run together: we were all glued to the television set, avid for every piece of news. Everything we watched was in black and white on TV, but that didn't make it any less striking or memorable.

We learned that, prior to his arrest at a Dallas movie theatre, Lee Harvey Oswald had killed Dallas police officer J. D. Tippit. I remember Oswald remarking about the bruised eye that he claimed was the result of rough handling by law enforcement officials.

I recall watching as President Kennedy's coffin arrived at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington D.C., and clearly remember Attorney General Robert Kennedy being there as it was unloaded. I remember that Mrs. Kennedy, still wearing her blood-soaked pink suit, was there as well.

On Sunday, Nov. 24, we went to my grandmother's for Sunday dinner as we usually did. While we were there, we watched in utter disbelief as accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was gunned down by Jack Ruby on live television. That same day we also watched as President Kennedy lay in state in our nation's Capitol Rotunda. Mrs. Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy, President Johnson and other dignitaries paid their respects, after which the public was permitted to file past the president's flag-draped casket.

Monday, Nov. 26 had been declared a national day of mourning. I'm sure Americans everywhere watched the Kennedy funeral cortège travel through the streets of Washington. I remember the incessant beat of the drums as the funeral proceeded to Arlington National Cemetery.

Some things are engraved forever in my memories from that day: the caisson carrying the President, surrounded by military personnel and a horse named "Black Jack" with reversed boots in his stirrups; the iconic photo of a very young John Kennedy saluting his father; the foreign dignitaries walking openly in the procession.

Kennedy was laid to rest in Arlington Cemetery where an eternal flame still burns. I have visited his grave site twice.

The Kennedy mystique captured many Americans' imaginations: his good looks, engaging personality and disarming demeanor, as well as his young family and beautiful wife Jacqueline, created the famed 'Camelot.'

That atmosphere imbued the White House and its influence was felt around the world.

As the 50th anniversary of that impactful day in our history nears, I have spent hours looking through the many newspaper clippings, magazines and books that my late mother gathered about the Kennedy family, and President Kennedy's assassination. There is a collection of Kennedy trading cards and a copy of the Warren Report among the memorabilia.

There are also those many familiar photos of our young energetic president and his beautiful wife and children; these remind me of the hope that he gave all Americans for the decade of the 1960s and beyond.

Reliving this momentous occasion in both my life, and the life of the country and the world, has helped me realize that, despite my cynicism concerning our elected officials and the way governments operate today, the ideals that I formulated during John F. Kennedy's brief time as our president have guided me ever since.

I suspect that I am not alone in that, and perhaps this is Kennedy's enduring legacy: a generation of citizens who strive and seek, who reach for the stars, and who remain true to themselves.

Dana Grubb

freelance writer/

photographer