Michael Jackson's death has me thinking about this. I will always remember exactly where I was when I heard that Elvis died (in my friend May Beth's family room watching TV- days before starting high school). I was just getting ready to jump into the shower on a school day my senior year when my mom knocked on the bathroom door and told me that John Lennon was killed. And I was getting ready to go to Church when I heard the news about Princess Diana. I have a feeling that I will forever remember that I was leaving the pool with my kids when I found out that MJ had passed.

People old enough to remember the early '60s always say they remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard that JFK was shot.

I guess it's because they are larger than life, iconic figures in our culture.

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"We must love them both--those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject. For both have labored in the search for truth, and both have helped us in the finding of it."
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I remember where I was and what I was doing when JFK was shot and when John Lennon was killed, when the OKC bombing happened (I am from OK) and on 9-11. I think those are the only important dates that I really remember like that, where I was and what I was doing at the moment.

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I remember exactly where I was for 9-11, but honestly MJs death in the scheme of my life be a blip on the radar, an unremarkable blip.

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Michael Jackson supposingly died 5:26 pm EST.(my time) but after reading all the different posts in the Michael Jackson heart attack thread I wonder what time it actually was?

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I clearly remember the death of Elvis Presley and Princess Diana, of course the Columbine Shootings and the Oklahoma Bombings and the Bombing of the Twins Towers in 1993 and of course 9/11 attacks and the day Lucille Ball passed away. All sadly terrible days to never forget ever ever. Peace. Catherine

I was watching tv in my living room in Va..all 3 channels back then. I heard that Elvis died. I was 14. My mom was out in the front pasture burning trash and I went out to let her know.

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I can't remember what I was doing when I heard about Elvis, but I remember...

I was sitting at my vanity getting ready for school(high school) when I heard on the radio that John Lennon had been shot. I was(am) a huge Beatles fan and was horribly upset. I rushed to school to find my best friend, who was sitting on a bench smiling at me when I went to tell her the news.

For 911- I was sitting in math class, my first semester of college and wondering why my mom kept calling my cell phone, knowing I was in class. I went in the hallway and called her back. She told me the news.

I will never forget what I was doing when I heard about Michael, either. I was on the phone with a close friend talking about Farrah and how sad her death was. My home and cell phone started ringing like mad. I said to her that something must have happened and I had better answer. I answered the call from my mom and was in a state of shock for a long time, not accepting that it was real.

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"When you're drowning, you don't say 'I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to notice me drowning and come and help me,' you just scream."

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I remember all those (except JFK's death, that was before I was born) and also remember the shock one day of hearing a boy screaming in the street that Reagan had been shot.

Penny, I'll never forget the OKC bombing. I was teaching at a school in MWC, and I walked outside and could see smoke billowing from downtown. A few minutes later, I was asked to check all the emergency cards to check where my students' parents worked.

I was in the first grade when JFK died. I remember my mom vaccuming the den and tears were rolling down her face.

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I'm not old enough to remember most of those, but I do remember being in the school cafeteria when the principal came in and told us that the Space Shuttle Challenger had exploded. I so wanted to be an astronaut at that time (I did for many years afterwards...would still love to). I was in 5th grade at the time and it was a big thing for me.

9-11, I was driving to work at Edwards Air Force Base, flipping through radio stations as I got on the highway and landed on NPR. One of the towers had been hit, the Pentagon had been hit but the thought was it was a bomb, there were rumors of fires on The Mall in DC (which turned out to be wrong). As I approached the main gate, the young Marines who only the day before had smiled and waved me through, were now in full battle dress. As I waited in line, I watched one of them change the Force Protection Level sign. I looked at other drivers in other cars and wondered what they were thinking. I had only been out there less than two weeks and felt very much alone.

Space Shuttle Columbia - I was in Marietta, Georgia at the Lockheed wind tunnel when one of the guys came by and said "Looks like we lost the shuttle". I looked at my friend and coworker Todd, and without saying anything we agreed to swap one of the computers over to the outside network and see if we could find anything on the internet. We kept that laptop up on CNN for the rest of the shift.

Princess Diana's death didn't register near as high as those other events. I read about that in the newspaper that morning.

Michael Jackson won't be on the space shuttle scale either. I might remember that when I was doing cardio at the gym CNN was reporting he had been rushed to the hospital. By the time I got out of abs class, the report was that he had died. But, then again, years from now, I might not remember that fact.

9/11 - Sitting at my computer doing some reward programs. My husband was at work and had sent me an instant message to turn on the TV. I turned it on about 1 minute before the 2nd plane crashed into the towers. I thought it was a movie preview! I couldn't grasp for a while that it was REALLY happening. I cried a LOT that week.

The first celebrity tragic death I remember the "where I was, what I was doing" was Princess Diana. I was visiting my then boyfriend in Atlanta. I had just come out of the bathroom in the morning after getting ready for the day. I was walking past their television and I heard it. My jaw about hit the floor.

Michael Jackson - at my old house, working on it getting it ready to put on the market. A friend called me and left a message on my voice mail. We had talked about at work that day about who the "third" would be - Ed McMahon, then Farrah. We thought Walter Cronkite would be next. I called her back after listening to the voice mail and when she picked up, all I could say is "WHAT!?!?!" Hehe, prolly hurt her ear.

I'm not too proud to admit I did shed a tear or two when it really sunk in that he died. I will miss Michael Jackson.

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I will remember learning about Michael Jackson's death sitting in heavy DC traffic for two hours. I was listening to JFK (radio station), and the whole scenario really helped to make the time fly. As far as Elvis, I was six years old. I was living in Hawaii. My mom and I were driving home from Girl Scout camp, and there was a wrecked car on the side of the road. As soon as we got home, my dad asked my mom if he had heard the news about Elvis. Since I had just seen that car, I spent many years thinking he died in an overturned VW bug in a sugar cane field.....

9/11 is the big one for me. I was sitting in the Dr.'s office with Abby when one of the nurses came in and told me. I got home and turned on the tv just as the second plane hit.

9/11-I was getting my ds ready for school and it was on the tv. We both saw the second plane hit live. Then I rushed him off to school and came home and was glued to the tv. I was at my moms when the Oklahoma bombing happened. I think I was driving somewhere when I heard about Elvis dying. I remember JFK. I was 7, I think. I also remember hearing about Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King.

I don't think interest level of a predictible death of a drug addicted freak like Michael Jackson can begin to compare to the shock of an assignation of a U.S. president and can't be expected to generate the same public response. I have already forgotton where I was when I learned that Michael Jackson died - I think I was checking my email but I might have been looking up a recipe. Michael Jackson's death was as meaningless to me as his life.

9-11, I can never forget it because I could have lost my Foster Mom. I was watching/listening to TV and doing rewards programs when the first report came through. I sat in front of the TV and saw the second one hit, I called my Foster mom @ the pentagon when the first plane hit and again after the 2nd one hit and she made the remark of I wonder if we will be next, not knowing how true her remark would be. I had a Doctors appt that day so I was taking DS to daycare had dropped him off and got not even 1/4 mile from her house when I heard the pentagon was hit I didn't care that there was oncoming traffic I made a u-turn to go get my DS from the sitters house because she lives right next to Fort Belvoir and I feared it would be hit next. Foster mom made two phone calls out both to me at home and on cell to tell me she was ok, call my "sister" and to get to Metro to pick her up because she had to leave her car there. One month prior her office moved from the area that was hit and the fire ended at her old office door. Its a memory that will remain etched in my mind because I could drive right up the road and see the fire at the Pentagon, I also could sit on my deck and see and smell the acrid smoke from the pentagon.

I remember I was home sick from school when Ronald Reagan was shot.

John Lennon I was in the ER with an asthma attack.

Princess Diana I was working a odd shift because we were doing inventory where I worked and I was on the floor counting bottles of Arosci Relaxer when we heard it come over the Radio.

Elvis I probably was in school.

I was home when Columbine, OKC Bombing, UVA all happened.

Of course the DC Sniper home everyday worried sick about my DH who was driving a truck all over the DC area at the time.

Michael Jackson here at my moms on her bed playing Winster listening to the radio when I heard it and called DH and he and DS were at Old Country Buffet and he said I heard he was at the hospital but didnt know he died.

Farrah Fawcett in my car driving to go see my mother.

too many memories of sad things

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Grammie to Trinity Lorayne Jean Keens Born June 9, 2011 Loving my awesome guitar picking 100% Country Boy boyfriend Kenny !
RIP Daddy~ 01/24/1930-06/01/2007 I miss you !
Dont Think you Can .. know you can ~ Jeff Hardy

Elvis - I was hiding behind a chair due to a tornado warning for my town and they annouced that AElvis had died.
Princess Diana - I think I woke up for some reason - it was later in the evening that she had been in an accident and I waited up until they annouced that she had passed.
OKC - I was shopping in KMart and walked past the tv;s and it was on the news. I remember praying for the children in the day care center.
Space shuttle Challenger - I was in college talking with my teacher and another teacher came in to tell us that the shuttle had exploded.
9-11 I was at work on the north side of Baltimore and the clients (it was a phone call center) were telling us about the events. I left work early due to the fact that they were shutting down access to my home (I lived close to Downtown).
Farrah I saw on the news. MJ I was watering my garden and didn't believe it/nor did I care when I was told.

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What's UVA?? That's the abbreviation for my alma mater and I don't remember anything happening there, so I'm curious.

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FOXNews.com - Federal Officials: At Least 32 Dead After Virginia Tech University Shooting - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

Probably this is what she meant.

I am not sure, but I think she might have meant Virginia Tech, UVA is the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Makes sense. Thanks.

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Reading is Fundamental.

UVA~ There was a incident several years back before VCU (which I remember too much) it was either 1995-1996 or 1998-2000 that shut things down around the UVA medical campus for several hours. Only reason I remember is I was a clinic patient there at the time and had an appointment that afternoon that got canceled and we were luckily not driving there at the time it happened from DC. There was a shootout of some sorts involving a fugitive they were after holed up somewhere.

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~ Christine ~
Grammie to Trinity Lorayne Jean Keens Born June 9, 2011 Loving my awesome guitar picking 100% Country Boy boyfriend Kenny !
RIP Daddy~ 01/24/1930-06/01/2007 I miss you !
Dont Think you Can .. know you can ~ Jeff Hardy

I don't remember anything about that. How strange. You're sure it was UVA and not VCU? They both have medical schools, but it would be more likely a VCU incident only because VCU is in downtown Richmond, whereas UVA is kind of more suburban and collegiate.

ETA -- I'm not doubting you at all, just don't remember a thing about it and I've lived in Richmond since 1981 and was in Charlottesville for the four years before that and just don't recall this.

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JFK---I was in 6th grade. The nun let us listen to the info on her radio.

Elvis ---I was in Washington, DC for the first time visiting.

Space Shuttle---I was starting a new teaching job. My husband wanted me to apply for the job of the first teacher in space.

911---I was teaching in my class in Silver Spring, MD (close to DC). At our break at 10:00 the art teacher told me that "They" were blowing things up all over the place. 30 minutes later parents started taking the kids out of school. The last parent came at 2:00 pm. My son was in the army as a nurse working at Walter Reed Hospital. He was called in to the hospital as they were expecting people to come from the Pentagon. My son helped at the Pentagon sight. My partner teacher's husband worked at the Pentagon on some days. I had her son in my class. Luckily her husband was not there that day. She also had a brother on the New York fire department and they were on vacation that day but went in later. My daughter-in-law was working at Children's Hospital in DC and she said she heard when the plane hit and they saw the smoke. That day they stopped all air travel except for fighter jets that kept going over head. We did not have school for 2 days. On Friday of that week, the Catholic School teachers had a meeting in downtown DC and noone wanted to go.


Sniper----About a year after 911, three weeks of terror. Several of the shootings were within a few miles from my house. The two men worked out at a YMCA which was about 1/2 mile from the school that I teach at. On the day, the young boy was shot (he lived), they had helicopters circling over my school and the 3,000 student high school across the street. Soldiers had machine guns out of the door of the helicopters. We had several parents that are cops, FBI and CIA. They were there to open the cars doors for the students before and after school.
We could not go outside in those 3 weeks. On the day they were caught, the police stopped all traffic at the intersection next to my school because it led to the beltway. My husband was taking me to work. Because it was stopped, I walked across the intersection passed soldiers with guns to get to school only to find out that school was closed.

These are the things I will remember.

OKC bombing: Yep, remember it well. We were in south Arkansas and worked for an Emergency medical services company. There was discussion that DH and his partneres might travel to OKC to help out.

Columbine: Oldest DS was barely 3 weeks old and as I sat and watched the horror unfold, I wondered what the hell I had done bringing a tiny innocent child into to the world.

9/11: Denton TX. H called me and said turn on the TV. As I watched it was like the air was sucked out of the room and someone cut my legs from underneath me.

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