On November 21, 1963, the day before Kennedy’s fateful visit to Dallas, he came to San Antonio to speak at the dedication of the Aero Space Medical Health Center. His motorcade was to come down Broadway Street, a few blocks from my school, Central Catholic High.
I had to see him and later apologized to my mother for forging her name on a note that would get me out of class for a “dentist appointment.”
I was standing on a street corner, eagerly awaiting the Presidential entourage when my best friend’s mom drove up. I explained my intentions and she invited me to join her and her 5 year old as they were headed to Incarnate Word College several miles up the street. When we arrived, a sea of green and white uniforms covered the sidewalk. Students from Incarnate Word High School located up the hill from the college had come down to watch the President go by.
Hundreds of Catholic school girls and me. Hmmm.
I had an idea.
What if the motorcade were to slow down long enough for the President to shake a few hands? I told the girls around me to pass on three words: "Rush the motorcade." Otherwise, I explained, our memory would be of a blur of motorcycles and limousines.
It worked.
As the motorcade approach seven hundred and fifty girls, and one boy, tore through the 50 foot paper banner that read, INCARNATE WORD WELCOMES PRESIDENT AND MRS. KENNEDY and “rushed the motorcade.” There we were, excitedly hoping to touch the President of the United States.
His royal blue suit served to compliment his golden brown hair as he stood up in the open car to greet his young admirers. While the secret service tried frantically to stop the screaming youngsters, Kennedy smiled and graciously shook as many hands as he could, including mine. In a matter of seconds our lives had changed forever.
Little did we know.
Sonny Melendrez |
