18 NOVEMBER 19, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
When Greater Ridgewood mourned JFK
BY THE OLD TIMER
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
They call it a fl ashpoint
memory: a profound
event in one’s life in
which they can recall precisely
where they were and
what they were doing when it
occurred.
For Baby Boomers in
Queens and beyond, the date
of Nov. 22, 1963 is a horrifi c
fl ashpoint memory. Many of
them can still vividly recall
the moment they heard about
the assassination of President
John F. Kennedy as if it had occurred
only a few days ago.
The young president was
slain while traveling in an
open car motorcade through
the streets of Dallas, Texas.
His death plunged the nation
into a state of mourning not
seen since the death of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt 18
years earlier.
Businesses closed up shop
early that Friday aft ernoon.
Most sporting events were
cancelled. People gathered
around their living room television
sets the entire weekend
to watch coverage of Kennedy’s
death, his public wake
at the Capitol that Sunday and
his funeral on Monday.
Like many other major national
stories, the Ridgewood
Times sought to capture
the neighborhood’s mood
following the Kennedy assassination.
The front page of
the Nov. 28, 1963 Ridgewood
Times featured a top story
titled “A Community Mourns,”
noting that “many attend services”
in memory of the slain
president.
The full article follows
below:
Tuesday at noon it was
pretty much an average day in
Ridgewood. Children were at
school, mothers pushed baby
carriages along Myrtle Ave.,
shops beckoned with their early
holiday merchandise.
All of which was a far departure
from 24 hours earlier, the
blue Monday when a sorrowful
nation buried its President.
The streets of Ridgewood then
were quiet, deserted. Few cars
were stationed along usually
busy Myrtle Ave., the commercial
hub of the community. Only
the parking meters occupied
the sidewalks, standing like
silent sentinels.
Most residents doubtless
were witnessing the sorrowful
ceremony on television, the
funeral of President John F.
Kennedy. The solitude of the
streets was disturbed only by
the almost rhythmic collection
of refuse by Department
of Sanitation workers and they
seemed more subdued than is
their custom. A few youngsters
tossed footballs in schoolyards,
and that was it.
It had been an unusual
weekend, beginning Friday
afternoon with the disbelief.
Surely nobody would shoot the
President, and he couldn’t die.
That’s what they were saying on
street corners and in taverns.
But somebody did, and he died
and that is now history.
Next day, the usual Saturday
hustle-bustle was somehow
missing, and the community
grew even more respectful Saturday
evening, as organizations
by the dozens cancelled
out carefully planned festive
occasions. Nobody felt like
dancing or dining or having sociable
drink or doing anything.
And the community went to
sleep early.
Those organizations that
held meetings dispensed with
the regular course of business
to pay tribute to their dead
President. And there was no
frivolity.
Churches of all denominations
accommodated larger
numbers of worshippers than
normally Sunday. In some
cases, persons were required
to stand in the rear portions
of the churches, but they
remained and they prayed.
Many returned to their houses
of worship in the evening.
Then it was Monday, the
day of mourning proclaimed
by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
And Ridgewood mourned.
Stores were closed everywhere,
and on each door was a simple,
eff ective message, something
like, “Closed in memory of our
great President.”
People began appearing
on the streets again aft er the
burial and many walked in
the sunlight of Myrtle Ave. But
it was more like a Sunday stroll,
for few shops reopened.
And nobody seemed to care
for most had serious things on
their minds. And that’s the way
it was until Tuesday.
The front page of the issue
also featured a memorial box
with Kennedy’s image and a
tribute from Montana Senator
Mike Mansfi eld, a Brooklyn
native who at the time served
as Senate majority leader.
“He gave us of his love that
we, too, in turn, might give,”
Mansfi eld was quoted. “He
gave that we might give of
ourselves that we might give
to one another, until there
would be no room, no room at
all, for the bigotry, the hatred,
prejudice and the arrogance
which converged in that moment
of horror to strike him
down.”
Following Mansfield’s
quote, the Ridgewood Times
wrote, “If John Fitzgerald
Kennedy is to truly rest in
peace, it will only be if his
death has not been in vain,
that we the people will turn
back those forces of hate, bitterness
and violence that are
eroding the moral fi bre (sic)
of our country and dedicate
ourselves to pursue true,
lawful Democratic principles
to settle our diff erences.”
* * *
If you have any remembrances
or old photographs
of “Our Neighborhood: The
Way It Was” that you would
like to share with our readers,
please write to the Old Timer,
c/o Ridgewood Times, 38-15
Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361,
or send an email to editorial@
ridgewoodtimes.com. Any
print photographs mailed to
us will be carefully returned to
you upon request.
The front page of the Nov. 28, 1963, Ridgewood Times.
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