Community Corner

Seabrook Seniors Recall JFK Assassination

Their memories were chronicled in a short film produced at the Tinton Falls retirement community.

By Christopher Sheldon

Most who experienced the assassination of John F. Kennedy can remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when it happened.

That is certainly the case for the group of residents from Seabrook Village, a retirement community in Tinton Falls, who were filmed as part of a short documentary about the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination.

Riki Kass, one of the residents featured in the video, said she was downstairs ironing at the time of the assassination and immediately knew things would be very different after she heard the news.

"It was a great sadness, like a cloud came over the world," Kass said.

Resident Jan Pedersen said it was her birthday and she was teaching a classroom of 40 students when the news broke.

"All the teachers were to come to the office, and you never left the kids alone, and I (knew) there was something happening," Pedersen said.

The video was shown to a group of students at Monmouth University on Friday morning and the students were able to ask questions of the seniors about their thoughts and experiences during that time.

The video, which was produced at Seabrook, also got into the senior's feelings on the controversy of the assassination and the death of Lee Harvey Oswald. 

You can view the video in its entirety by clicking here.


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