Shared Memories of JFK Assassination for GeneaBloggers

Shared Memories of JFK Assassination for GeneaBloggers

 

 

Our GeneaBlogger leader, Genealogy Ninja Thomas MacEntee, has asked that those of us with memories of that day, 22 November 1963, share whatever memories we do have. He was too young at the time, to have memories of his own. We are to include a relevant image, as well, as the memories will be collected at Pinterest.

 

I was a young officer in the United States Air Force, on that day, working in my green office, at my green desk, with a radio on another green desk, not too far away, in our series of semi-trailer vans that made up our radar unit. This was a Radar Bomb Scoring detachment, part of the Strategic Air Command. Our location was a mesa west of and above St. George, Utah. We had earlier (a couple of months) moved from another Mesa located west of Winslow, Arizona. We had two officers and 25-30 enlisted men in our detachment. [I also had a wife and young daughter, at our home, in town]

The only really clear memory is standing around that radio, shocked to hear of the assassination attempt, and awaiting the (unbelievable, but nearly inevitable) news of Kennedy's death. The rest is a blur. Shock always is.


Families are Forever! ;-)

Wordless (nearly) Wednesday - Air Force Transfer - 1963

Wordless (nearly) Wednesday

Air Force Transfer

1963 - 50 Years Ago

Lt. Bill Smith, at work in radar trailer

The Coon Rapids Enterprise
Thursday, October 31, 2013, page 5

50 Years Ago
October 17, 1963

First Lt. William L. Smith has been transferred to St. George, Utah from Winslow, AZ, as part
of Detachment 9, 11th Radar Bomb Scoring Squadron (Saco USAF).

Lt. Smith is second in command of the 80-man unit whose mission is to score electronically simulated bomb runs by Strategic Air Command B-58, B-52 and B-47 bombers. During the coming months, Lt. Smith will be engaged in training twenty-five new men in all phases of the detachment operations.

Lt. and Mrs. Smith and their daughter, Annette, 3, will make their home in St. George, Utah.

Lt. Smith is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Leverne Smith of Coon Rapids. Mrs. Smith is the former Nancy Bolger. Both graduated from the Coon Rapids High School in 1957.

Families are Forever! ;-)

Sunday Obituaries - Lewis John Bowler

Sunday Obituaries - Lewis John Bowler

This is a bit of an unusual obituary for me to post, but it is no less important. I've recently been systematically scanning my slides from the early 1950 through mid-1970s. One slide I came across from April 1964, brought back memories that have stayed with me clearly for these nearly 50 years.

Lewis Bowler and his family were our neighbors in St. George. In the photo, my 3+ year old daughter, Annette, is standing (in the middle) with the Bowlers, on Easter, as I recall. Annette and their daughter, Mary Alice, participated in a lot of activities together in the months we lived near each other - a couple of houses apart. I was in the Air Force, and we moved within a year or so, but the Bowlers were wonderful friends, while we were neighbors. Fond memories.

We found this Obituary that brought us up to date on the family, through the years!

ST. GEORGE - Lewis John Bowler, 76, passed away on January 23, 2007 at Red Cliffs Regional in St. George, Utah. He was born on September 8, 1930 in St. George, Utah to Charles Ernest and Mary Riding Bowler.

After graduating from Dixie High School, Lewis served with the US Army during the Korean War. He married Dorcus Nowers on September 23, 1955 in Beaver, Utah. Their marriage was later solemnized in the St. George Temple on December 19, 1962.

Lewis was the service manager for the St. George Mountain Bell office and retired after 35 years of service. He then opened Bowler's CCom, a communication repair and sales business for 20 years, which he operated until January of 2005. He was past president of the St. George Lions Club and district governor of the Southern Region of the Lions Club. He served on the Southern Utah AA Council and the Five County Government Board. Lewis had many church callings. He was the Bishop of the St. George 8th Ward and transient Bishop of the Southwest Utah Region. He also served on the St. George Stake High Council and was a High Priest Group Leader.

He is survived by his wife of 51 years, daughters; Lu Ann (Michael) Pickett of Las Vegas, NV, Mary Alice (Jerald) Hunt of Enterprise, UT, Nancy Ellen (Kevin) Holyoak of St. George, UT, son; Scott Lewis (Kristen) Bowler of St. George, UT, 14 grandchildren and one great granddaughter. He is preceded in death by both parents, sisters; Jean Bowler Nelson and Maxine Bowler Lloyd.
The family would like to thank the staff of Dixie Dialysis Center and the Red Cliffs Rehabilitation Center for their devotion and support of our husband and father. A special thanks to Dr. Clark Staheli for his patience and extension of care and support.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, January 27, 2007 at 1:00 p.m. at the River Ridge Ward Chapel, 2434 E. Riverside Dr., St. George, Utah. 1st visitation will be on Friday, January 26, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Metcalf Mortuary, 288 W. St. George Blvd., and 2nd visitation will be 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. prior to services at the chapel. Interment will be in the St. George City Cemetery under the direction of Metcalf Mortuary, (435) 673-4221. Condolences may be sent to the family through our Web site at www.metcalfmortuary.com



Families are Forever! ... and neighbors can be pretty neat, as well!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - Louisville, KY - July/Aug 1964

Those Places Thursday - Louisville, KY - July/Aug 1964


I've already written some, here, here, and here, about our trip east in the summer of 1964 from St. George, Utah, where I was in the U.S. Air Force, to Louisville, KY, via visits to our families in Iowa.

While our new home, based on my civilian job at GE was being completed, we did live in a temporary apartment for a while. We were so busy adapting to our new environment we took few photos, and I certainly do not have any on hand right now.

We really liked our new three bedroom, two bath, brick home (with full unfinished basement) in the suburbs just south of GE Appliance Park. $14,000, by the way. My, how times have changed!  ;-)

Here is a photo of the house, actually taken in January 1972, when we stopped by to check it out, many years later.

Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - In Transit - Summer 1964

Those Places Thursday - In Transit - Summer 1964


When I finished my Air Force active duty tour in July 1964, we moved from St. George, Utah, to Louisville, Kentucky, with some "time-off" In Transit in Iowa.

Leaving St. George, we drove "cross-country" including across Highway 24 through what we now know as Wayne County and through the Capital Reef National Monument ( it didn't become a Park until a few years later). In May of 2011, we revisited that drive. [Annette and Larry now have their home just a few miles to the west! ] You will see three photos taken in 1964, when we first visited, along with the photos in the same locations, in 2011. FUN!

We then continued east, through Colorado, of course, Here is a photo taken in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, where we stopped along the way to have lunch. You can see Annette out 'stretching her legs' - we were lucky she didn't run off down through the trees. ;-)

Yesterday [Wordless (nearly) Wednesday] I posted a couple of photos from our stay in Iowa, before heading for Louisville.


We didn't think about it as significant at the time, but during that trip, things were really 'heating up' over in Vietnam. By August 10, about the time we were getting to Louisville, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution; generally considered the official beginning of "The Vietnam War."


The story continues on Sunday…

Families are Forever!  ;_)

Sharing Memories - St. George, UT (63-64)

Sharing Memories - St. George, UT (63-64)


For Those Places Thursday this week I posted a photo of our house in St. George, Utah, where we moved in the Fall of 1963 while in the U.S. Air Force. We were there a little less than a year, but it seems much more important then that short time period, because of the events of the period.

Until I began writing this, I had forgotten that the Kennedy assassination occurred at this time (Nov 1963). I remember hearing it on the radio in the orderly room, at my desk, but I had not recalled whether we were in Winslow or St. George. It had to have been St. George.

The following photo of Annette is one I had been remembering, because it not only showed her, but also our new car, the blue Chevelle, but the mesa in the background especially well. It also looks west down the street toward our good friends, the Bowler family. They had a daughter about Annette's age that she played with a lot. The dad was the local ward Morman church Bishop. He worked for the electric company, as I recall. The dad next door, between our house and Bowlers, made dentures, in a lab in his back yard. They had two young boys. Funny what you remember.

The singular big event of this period, however, was, of course, the arrival of Allison in Mar 1964, just about 48 years ago (in a couple of weeks). (Nancy did all the work, of course...) Here we are a couple of months after that.

That will do for today. Thanks for joining us on this journey. More to come, of course.


Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - St. George, Utah (Fall 1963)

Those Places Thursday - St. George, Utah (Fall 1963)

In the fall of 1963 we moved from Winslow, Arizona, to St. George Utah. This move took us from south and east of the Grand Canyon to north and west of the Grand Canyon! The whole detachment, all the radars, all the trailers they were housed in, all moved from the mesa west of Winslow to another mesa on the west edge of St. George. Actually, in the photo, above, looking north and a little west, you can see the north end of the mesa to the far left. The St. George airport is also on the mesa; the detachment was to the south end of the mesa.

It appears this photo was taken at Christmas time; I can see the wreath and other decorations. We lived here until Summer 1964. Allison was born in March. Life marches on.  ;-)

Families are forever!  ;-)

Sharing Memories - RBS Express (62-63)

Sharing Memories - RBS Express (62-63)


On the last Those Places Thursday I shared so photos of my three temporary duty assignments (TDY) to the RBS Express in Nevada, Montana and Kansas. It started with the sun rising over the RBS Express parked in Hysham, Nevada.

This photo is especially meaningful because these experiences are the only time in my life, I think, that I ever worked a steady 'night shift' for any length of time. I was on from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., as I recall, for weeks at a time. It is a different work environment - and I am thankful for the experience. When I later studied Service Encounters as my specialty within Services Management in my doctoral program, being able to recall the 'feelings' of being a worker during those hours really helped me to be able to have a least some feel for a retail worker at a 24 hour business, such as a convenience store. Or, a heath care worker in a hospital, for another examples. It really is a 'different world,' I remember going into the dining car, just coming off my working shift, eating breakfast, then, in a hour or so, going to bed for my 'night of sleep' - getting up in the early to mid-afternoon. The rest of the day and into the evening was free time… back to work at 10 p.m.

Somehow, on some of those afternoons, I became acquainted with a local mail carrier and some local ranchers. I do not recall the exact circumstances, but, I enjoyed riding around the mountainous regions near the train. I'm sure this was on the Montana TDY. There are some vivid images in my memory, but no connecting details. Fascinating.

Even MANY years later, just thinking about that 'night shift' work brings back 'physical' responses in my body. The memories did when I was in my doctoral studies, they do now. Strange how that happens. As a reader, do you have memories of working in the middle of the night in any of your work? Similar, or different memories and responses?

I want to include one more story here, unrelated, except in my mind, they go together. Our oldest daughter, Annette, would have been three in Aug of 1963, just before we moved from Winslow to St. George, Utah. The memory (and this is my story, so I'll tell it my way, regardless of the "truth'' aspect of anything I may say) I have is of Annette, 3, up on a picnic bench at a Winslow-based airman party, doing "The Twist." Chubby Checker first hit #1 with "The Twist" with a single in 1960. As the related dance, "The Twist" took hold, his musical version hit number 1 again, in 1962.


The final memory of this 'set' will be that Nancy was pregnant with Allison as we pulled up stakes in Winslow and moved the family, and the 'Air Force Detachment base,' to St. George, Utah, in the fall of 1963… the story for next week.


Families are Forever!  ;-)

Those Places Thursday - RBS Express (62-63)

Those Places Thursday
RBS Express (62-63)


This is a very special Those Places because it occurred 'while' we were living it Winslow, Arizona, and St. George, Utah… It is the U.S. Air Force RBS Express, a train in several locations where I served during my 3 years in the service.

 The sun rising on the RBS Express parked in Hysham, Montana. It is a few miles west of Miles City, Montana. I had a temporary duty (TDY) assignment here, near Elko, Nevada, and in western Kansas.

This was The RBS Express #2 in full set-up - you can see the flag in the center, and the radar units on top, further back along the roof line.

 Here the airmen are operating the MSQ-39 radar monitoring bombing runs by B-47 and B-52 aircraft. Note that discussion at the wikipedia link talked about MSQ-35 equipment. Did you note that there 21 cars, 17 support and 4 radar… the description is very accurate!

Here was our dining car - we operated 3 shifts, so someone eating about all the time!

 The orderly room. I worked at one of the desks, when I was on shift.

This was the Pullman sleeper car where my compartment was. Very tiny. Each of the above photos was from Aug-Sep 62.

 This was the Nevada TDY assignment, the train is approaching Deeth, Nevada; note the nearby mountains… each terrain was carefully chosen, they told us. This was Mar 63. Once we were 'parked' on our siding, the engines would go on to other work, of course.

 This one is from Aug 63 - likely the western Kansas TDY trip - all the officers and noncoms assigned. I am third from the right, beside the taller commanding officer (a pilot).

A very memorable part of my Air Force experience.


Families are Forever!  ;-)