The Kennedy Era
My Irish Catholic parents took me and my older sister aboard a great ship from Ireland to Canada around l960. I was very young and the parents were optimistic about leaving 'the auld sod' and coming to a new country. I believe John F. Kennedy was a primary reason, and that the U.S. of A, as they called it, held the hope of possibility and freedom from the restrictions of the old land.
My Father loved taking 8mm films and photographs. Mostly he shot with Kodachrome, which has recently been discontinued. The quality of the images he took is so good, the colors still saturated and lovely in a way that I don't see much anymore, but for an altered digital file. Recently going through what remains of his slides, I scanned many and remembered his telling me a few things that stood out in his mind. One in particular is the devastation in the days following the shooting of President Kennedy. I could go on about the personal impact on my parents, and my memories of them crying (which I had never seen before) in front of a television (which we never had before) and the repeat of the shooting. Tears and television. I have maybe eight slides I found of a trip our parents took to Virginia in l964, carrying along their toddlers to Arlington Cemetery. It was a very important event, like going to Church.
I mark the passing of Edward Kennedy today as a great statesman with many personal tragedies and some bad choices.
Here are two never-before-seen images of that day when the grave was new and the eternal flame burned on top of a mound, with various military hats on the grave, and onlookers. The other I will post here is of a woman, probably a Kennedy, on a carpeted walkway with two guards as she looks at the grave. If anyone recognizes this woman, could you write?
**I removed these images. I will be printing an edition of five of each image in pigment inks on archival paper, and offering them for sale. $200 each. Size: l9 x 13 paper, image area to be determined. Email if you want one. #1 Graveside, 1964 - #2 Woman & Guards, 1964.
My Father loved taking 8mm films and photographs. Mostly he shot with Kodachrome, which has recently been discontinued. The quality of the images he took is so good, the colors still saturated and lovely in a way that I don't see much anymore, but for an altered digital file. Recently going through what remains of his slides, I scanned many and remembered his telling me a few things that stood out in his mind. One in particular is the devastation in the days following the shooting of President Kennedy. I could go on about the personal impact on my parents, and my memories of them crying (which I had never seen before) in front of a television (which we never had before) and the repeat of the shooting. Tears and television. I have maybe eight slides I found of a trip our parents took to Virginia in l964, carrying along their toddlers to Arlington Cemetery. It was a very important event, like going to Church.
I mark the passing of Edward Kennedy today as a great statesman with many personal tragedies and some bad choices.
Here are two never-before-seen images of that day when the grave was new and the eternal flame burned on top of a mound, with various military hats on the grave, and onlookers. The other I will post here is of a woman, probably a Kennedy, on a carpeted walkway with two guards as she looks at the grave. If anyone recognizes this woman, could you write?
**I removed these images. I will be printing an edition of five of each image in pigment inks on archival paper, and offering them for sale. $200 each. Size: l9 x 13 paper, image area to be determined. Email if you want one. #1 Graveside, 1964 - #2 Woman & Guards, 1964.
Labels: Arlington Cemetery, John F. Kennedy, Kodachrome slides., l964 graveside, Virginia
posted by Focus on the Grain at 3:59 PM
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