Superior residents remember Kennedy assassination

Joyce Crabb

Joyce Crabb was living in California with her family when she learned of the President’s death. She estimated her age to be approximately 25. She heard the news over the course of her daily routine.

According to Crabb, her parents were at work near Point Reyes at the time. She called and asked her mother if the TV was on and explained it should be turned on because the President had been shot.

“I could not believe it,” Crabb said. “I watched the whole thing, all day, all week. I took notes…it was just awful.”

She said she had her kids watch the news broadcasts about the assassinations. She wanted them to know and understand what was going on at such an important time.

H. F. Berneking

On assignment on-board the U.S.S. Yorktown aircraft carrier, H.F. Berneking had just been transferred to the ship and was docked in Longbeach, CA. He remembers it was just after lunch, he was in crew quarters visiting with friends and was lounging around when the news came.

He said someone came down and announced the President had been shot, describing how he was mortally wounded.

“I said ‘does that mean he’s dead?’,” said Berneking. “I didn’t understand what mortally wounded was.”

The next day, Berneking recalls everyone was out in dress blues to stand watch for 24 hours to honor the President.

Joe Magone

On the day of the assassination, Joe Magone was at work at a mill. Living only a mile from work, he went home for lunch. When he got home his wife, who had been downtown for the morning, told him the news. He told his boss when he got back, though does not believe any special announcement was made.

He said he felt the news was horrible. Aside from his feelings of Kennedy as a good President, the very idea of an incident like it was hard to take.

“The fact that any President would be assassinated like that was an awful thing,” Magone said.

He felt Kennedy was a well loved President by most Americans, which made his death especially hard.

Diane Magone

Diane Magone was only a child at the time, but still remembers the news clearly. She was in second or third grade at Superior Elementary. She was having lunch in the cafeteria of the old schoolhouse when the news came through.

According to Magone, she did not fully appreciate how important the news was at the time.

“Everything outside of Superior seemed so far off,” she said. “We didn’t have TV, so we weren’t that connected, but I was amazed.”

However, she recalled the astonishment she felt at the news. She said even today, it is still hard to believe it happened.

Caroline Phillips

When it happened, Caroline Phillips was ironing clothes in Great Falls. She heard about it when the news came on TV. As she recalls, what made it so real for her was how she had just seen him a few months ago. Phillips’ family had gone to watch a motorcade, which he was a part of.

“We all lined up to see him,” Phillips said. “My daughter was sitting on my husband’s shoulders, then this happened.”

Phillips said she could not believe the news. She was shocked by how events had occurred from Kennedy’s visit to Great Falls to his death.

Orvil Thompson

When the news came, Orvil Thompson was in his first year of teaching at the Superior schoolhouse. As he remembers it, there was no Public Announcement system in the school, so word travelled by word of mouth. He said someone came to the school and announced the news heard on the radio.

Thompson was shocked. He said he did not fully believe it until he got home and saw it on the evening news.

“[I was full of] disbelief, I guess,” he said.