... as Mom remembered it
LOCATION: C R Anthony Department Store;
Main St., Taylor TX
DATE: 60 Years Ago at 1:45 pm
For many years my white plastic baby carrier sat
covered in dust in our backyard lawnhouse on top of an old lime green Dr.
Pepper Icebox. I knew the real reason she
didn’t use this baby carrier when my brother Kelly was born. Even when Dad questioned "why not just use
Terry’s old carrier?" she refused.
Instead, she bought a new blue one for Kelly. In storage in the lawnhouse for many years,
the cavity of my old carrier held a mixed bag of old water sprinklers.
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| The Baby Carrier |
On more than one occasion when cleaning out the lawnhouse or looking for that certain sprinkler she’d remark on the crib. “This used to be yours. It was a gift to me from Mother and Daddy at your baby shower.” She’d pause, and then say, “I had you in it that day at Anthony’s –”
another pause, “I’ve told you that story,
haven’t I?” I usually answered no to
that question because I loved hearing her tell it again and again. It went like this:
Carrying her new 7 month old son Terry in the new plastic carrier given to her at her baby shower by her own parents, Rubie entered the C. R. Anthony’s department store on Main in Taylor TX. She had stopped in to pick up a new pair of jeans for her husband Les.
As she made her way to the back of the store
she suddenly heard the sounds of “Sh-h” “Sh-h” “Sh-h” echoing along with the
sound of her high heels as she approached the large credenza of stacked jeans.
And then she recalled hearing twice the calls from customers in the store to “Turn
it up, turn it up.” And as the clerk
complied and turned up the volume of the small AM radio sitting on the front
counter of the store, all stood frozen as the news was delivered:
"President John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead at Parkland Hospital in Dallas
Texas just 38 minutes ago…"
Mom recalls her knees giving way and how thankful she was the credenza was in front of her and she was able to lean into that credenza in front of her – “otherwise I would have collapsed and dropped you” -- and she set the plastic carrier on top of the jeans.
The next
sounds she heard in the hushed store were soft sobs mixed with the repeated
words of shock ‘Oh dear God’ over and over again. She then also began to tear up and an unknown
woman beside her comforted her with gentle pats on her back.
Mom left the store without the jeans she had come for. Instead, she remembers wanting to get out of
there as quickly as possible -- feeling, as she remembered it, so troubled by
what had just happened in there, what she had heard and felt. She returned instead to the old Pontiac that
she had parallel parked on Main, depositing me in the passenger seat and, grabbing hold of the steering wheel with both hands, simply sat for many minutes
staring at the oddly deserted Main Street of Taylor Texas.
Usually busy and bustling on a weekday afternoon, today, in
this moment, November 22, 1963 at 1:45 pm she saw not a soul on that Main
street, not a single car in motion. Her stiff, frozen gaze that had been focused straight ahead slowly loosened and now widened to include
the sidewalks on either side of the street. She saw the people now. Like statues they stood unmoving on the
sidewalks, hands help up to their mouths, shaking their heads in disbelief,
clutching their children close to them.
She'd suddenly wrap up this story in that typical manner she always dismissed something uncomfortable for her - with an open palm raised beside her shaking head and a face of someone who had tasted something quite bitter - and she'd say, “It was so sad.” or “It was all so terrible.” But the story always concluded with “I came home and put your carrier in the lawn house that day. And that’s where it’s sat ever since…a reminder…because I’ll never ever forget that day. Never.” And "Never" was always followed by a heavy sigh as she moved on with whatever next task required her attention.
A year after placing Mom into a nursing home I began going through her study and in the bottom drawer of her filing cabinet I discovered a large bundle wrapped in old butcher's paper that was tied with twine. What a discovery for this old history teacher! I was in awe as I sifted through her thoughtful collection of old newspapers and Life magazines that she had kept regarding momentous events: the Moon Landing, the Challenger disaster, Nixon resigning, the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the 'velvet split' of Czechoslovakia, the assassinations of JFK and MLK, and then I came upon this one:
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| First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and her two children on White House steps; LIFE magazine; December 6, 1963. |
It was the only one in this great stack of newspapers and LIFE magazines that she had placed into a special plastic magazine cover and attached a handwritten note:
I'm so delighted my Mom preserved all of these historical artifacts, but especially meaningful to me is this particular one. Clearly this particular event deeply affected my Mom. I have my own feelings and thoughts about this event's relevance in our nation's history and it is unlikely my Mom would have fully understood or been able to enunciate the significance I see in it -- though she definitely recognized it as a great tragedy.
For me this event was the catalyst in our nation's tragic transformation over the next two decades - '63, '68, Vietnam, Watergate - never would America be the same again. The Greatest Generation of the World War II era that united as one to successfully win that war was left speechless and disillusioned by the events that followed. After them would come one generation after another that was each more cynical than the last.
More than a man was assassinated on November 22. It was also the death of American innocence and goodness, unwavering trust in our government, respectful debate among people of opposing political views, and the end of great statesmen who spoke intelligently and said wise things.
Today we live in an age where a millionaire playboy who avoided military service and disparages our armed forces descends from a staircase situated in his gaudy gold-encrusted surroundings to announce his candidacy for the Presidency and then spends four years in the White House displaying a shocking, embarrassing ignorance of American Civics, world history and geopolitics while compensating for these failures with his political base through the use of debasing and vile text messages that his cult finds humorous.
Ah, yes,
did I also mention November 22, 1963 was the beginning of the end of civility in public discourse.
January 20, 2017 would sound its death knell.
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| Trump's Inaugural, Jan. 20, 2017 |
Mom, you were so right:
"Very sad day for our country!"
________
Enjoy looking through my Library
Terry’s “Good Living” Guide:
Avoid the 3 PsBsSs
Processed Foods, Phthalates, Plastics;
Beef, Butter, Breads;
you’ll be feeling better in no time!
Avoid the 3 F’s
misinformation, fear, anger and hate!
JOIN ME IN ENSURING AN EDUCATED CITIZENRY!
JOIN ME IN ENSURING AN EDUCATED CITIZENRY!
I drink it morning through late afternoon.
 |
| Best Bean Ever! |
While on my vacation in Oregon I fell in love with the many varieties I discovered at Portland Coffee Roasters, as well as their Mission & History.
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