Kathryn Linman

November 22, 1963

PHOTO: Dianne's school picture, kindergarten 1959-60

When I was in kindergarten every Friday my class would walk down the hall to the other kindergarten classroom where Mrs. Kathryn Linman was the teacher. She would play the piano and we would all sing for an hour or so. 

PHOTO: Mrs. Linman's kindergarten class going on a train ride

PHOTO; Mrs. Linman's kindergarten class 1952

This is a photo of a page from a book of Bangor history. That's Mrs. Linman leading her class in the Memorial Day parade in Bangor, Michigan.

PHOTO: Dianne's school picture, 4th grade 1963-64

At some point, Mrs. Linman started teaching 4th grade instead of kindergarten. She was my teacher the first half of the year, before we moved to Hartford in the middle of the school year.  Mrs. Linman was a delightful person, and I stayed in touch with her through the years. When I graduated from Hartford High School, Mrs. Linman sent me a graduation gift -- a set of blue linen napkins, for my hope chest. (I didn't have a hope chest, but I did have a cedar chest my grandmother had given me. That's where I put the napkins.) Mrs. Linman was the person who introduced me to the book Little Lord Fauntleroy, which is my favorite book of all time. I was in Mrs. Linman's 4th grade classroom on November 22, 1963.

We were in school when President Kennedy was shot. They didn't really tell us what had happened, but they called the teachers into a meeting and told them. They let school out early and sent us all home. When I got home I found out what had happened. The main thing I remember was that all the grown-ups sat in front of the TV and cried for three days. The other detail I remember was when they showed John John saluting the coffin at the funeral. They showed it on TV over and over again.

And I remember Walter Kronkite making the official announcement that the President was dead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PXORQE5-CY

Here is a picture of Kathryn Linman after she was retired. She was on a trip to Alaska, and this picture was taken by a photographer for the National Geographic magazine. The picture appeared in the April 1969 issue of the magazine.