The sun beamed through the windshield of the old Volkswagen as it puttered down the highway. Joe Bustin turned up the radio slightly to listen to one more song. Joe, a tall, 22 year old man with short black hair, was on his way to work at Mark Stevens Health and Beauty in Woonsocket, RI.
It was a sunny Friday in November and all Joe could think about was the weekend ahead.
Little did he know, his weekend off from Bryant College would be extended.
Joe pulled into the parking lot of Mark Stevens at around one in the afternoon. A stream of people were leaving the store as Joe approached.
“We’re closing the store. The presidents been shot,” Joe’s manager said frantically, scurrying to finish stocking the selves with tissues.
Joe quickly helped finish stock the last few items on the shelf then hurried out with car keys in hand.
He fiddled with his keys to find the right one for his car. When he got to his car he hopped in.
He turned on his AM radio for news.
Nothing.
He half listened to the classical music coming from ABC radio as he drove to his girlfriend’s house in Lincoln.
What happened to President Kennedy? Is he going to be okay? Joe wondered.
An announcement interrupted Doris Day’s singing.
“We interrupt this program to bring you a special bulletin from ABC radio. Here is a special bulletin from Dallas, Texas. Three shots were fired at President Kennedy’s motorcade today in downtown Dallas, Texas. This is ABC radio. We are going to stand by for more details in Dallas.”
Joe lowered the radio, trying to absorb the devastating news.
He pulled up along side of Marcia’s small apartment in Lincoln. Marcia opened the door.
“Did you hear?” Marcia asked.
Joe nodded.
The couple rushed inside the living room and sat in front of the little antenna TV.
They watched the black and white frames of John F. Kennedy’s motorcade travel through Dealey Plaza.
Joe’s face froze with disbelief as the president’s car passed the Texas School Book Depository and shots were fired.
He watched a bullet target Kennedy’s head.
He’s not going to make it, Joe thought.
Joe flipped the station.
He stopped on CBS and listened to Walter Cronkite.
“We have just learned however that Father Hubert, one of the two priests called into the room has administered the last sacrament of the church to President Kennedy....We just have a report from our correspondent Dan, rather, in Dallas that he has confirmed that President Kennedy is dead.”
Joe picked up the phone and called his parents in Pawtucket.
“Hello?” his mother answered, her voice shaky.
“Mom, did you hear...?” Joe started to ask.
“Oh, Joey, this is just awful!” his mom said.
News stations aired clips of the president for hours.
In the days that followed, Joe bought newspaper after newspaper with the latest Kennedy headlines “Kennedy killed by sniper as he rides in car in Dallas: Johnson sworn in on plane” and “Kennedy Slain: President assassinated by sniper in Dallas”.
Joe’s work re-opened. Class at Bryant University resumed.
Joe sat at his desk and wrote his latest English assignment for Mrs. Patterson: a one page paper about President Kennedy’s death.
It hit Joe.
He had witnessed history.
Endnotes
PAGE 1: Joe Bustin, ABC Radio Network Broadcast (found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1ataY2BdnU)
PAGE 2: Joe Bustin, CBS Television Network Broadcast (found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K8Q3cqGs7I), NY Times headline (found at http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1122.html), The Racine Journal Times headline (found at http://www.archives.com/genealogy/newspaper-genealogy-jfk-assassination.html)
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