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Add My StoryAuthor: Judith Inskeep
In November 1963 I was more than halfway through my term of service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Peru. I remember going downstairs in the building where the school breakfast program, with which we worked, had its office. I met our volunteer leader coming up. He said “President Kennedy’s been shot!”
I responded, rather sharply, “John, that’s not funny!” because I had occasionally heard people making such jokes. In fact, weeks before the assassination a child shouted at me on the street “Kennedy’s dead!” which was puzzling–was it just an anti-American remark? We encountered very few of those. In the weeks following there were funeral masses for Kennedy (he was very popular in Latin America because of having young children and being Catholic), and many people expressed sympathy to us personally. One schoolteacher brought a letter that her students had composed to Caroline and John Jr.; it was touching. Even now remembering it brings tears to my eyes.
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