Life in a Washington, D.C. Suburb at the Time of Kennedy's Assassination - Yahoo

For the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, I was asked to write a first-hand account of what life was like during the time of President Kennedy's assassination for Yahoo in 300 words or less. These are my memories.

My father, Col. William A. Darden, a career Army officer, was stationed in Washington, D.C., which is what brought us there. It was a remarkable and unsettled time, both for our family and for the country. 

Life in a Washington, D.C. Suburb at the Time of Kennedy's Assassination -Yahoo

Lake Barcroft, just outside Washington, D.C., was a middle-class suburb home to many military and government families in the early 1960s. My father was stationed at the Pentagon and with the Bureau of Yards and Docks, so our family was affected by events in the nation’s capital.

The Campus on the Ridge

On November 22, 1963, I was a young girl at St. Agnes School in Alexandria, Virginia, in the Northridge area. At that time, St. Agnes Episcopal School for Girls—now part of St. Stephen's and St. Agnes— was an all-girls school except for first and second grade.

The Unfolding Kennedy Tragedy

Not long after lunch that Friday, we were sitting quietly in class when another teacher entered. After a whispered conversation, both women stepped outside, leaving us alone in the classroom—something that rarely happened.

After a short time, our teacher came back in and told us that the president had been shot. She escorted us to another room—one with a television, and there we watched history unfold. We weren’t old enough to fully understand what we were watching, but we knew the President had been shot in the head. Even schoolgirls were able to grasp the gravity of that. 

The Death of President John F. Kennedy

Around 2:00pm, Walter Cronkite announced the devastating news: President John F. Kennedy was dead. 

Life as we knew it would never be the same. 

Originally published at: Life in a Washington, D.C. Suburb at the Time of Kennedy's Assassination - Yahoo 

Some of this story is part of a larger biographical book I’m writing about my father, William A. Darden, Jr.—a tribute to a man whose footprints I still follow. His narrative traces an extraordinary path from a Nashville childhood on Fatherland Street to the classrooms of Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech, to Sundar Nagar, India and then to the Pentagon. A veteran of WWII, Darden’s life remained deeply rooted in the history of the family home at Tick Hill and his wife’s family legacy at Ransom Place. This project goes beyond the uniform to uncover the man himself, moving from the halls of Central High to the final years in Brentwood. For more info, see William A. Darden: Upcoming Biography and Legacy Project. Be part of the discussion on Facebook.

Related historical and biographical articles on William A. Darden are collected in the full archive here: William A. Darden – Articles & Legacy Archive.

To be notified when the book is available, please email darden.k@gmail.com with the subject ‘Book Interest’.