The news is full of retrospectives about President Kennedy as the 50th anniversary of his assassination approaches ï‚– November 22, 1963. Most of us remember where we were and what we were doing that day.

As it happens, Jay and I were due to leave for Washington, DC the next day to visit Edie and Charlie Seashore. Edie and I had worked together and I was very fond of her. She died recently, to my everlasting sorrow.

I was working in the consulting office of Ricahrd Beckhard, who had been our boss. The office was in midtown, just below 42nd Street on the East side. 40th and Lexington, in a pre-war building of about 10 storeys and next to the Tuscany Hotel. Edie had left to do other things, and so it was that I missed her after her move to Washington, and kept in touch. Barkhard, as I thought of him, was most often on the road visiting clients and therein lies the main reason I did not strangle him at his most patronizing. He was just rarely around. He sent me Dictaphone tapes with tons of stuff to do and I was happy to work in this way and to be alone, dealing with his consulting material, taking care of the financial records, booking his flights and hotel reservations, and deflecting phone calls from the intellectually challenged bimbos he gave his number to in seedy bars around the country, knowing full well that he would never be in New York to get them. I loved my solitude and listening to my AM/FM radio tuned to WQXR, the New York Times station that mainly broadcast classical music.

Since I was often tired due to taking ballet class at night, I lay down for a noon nap, on the carpeted floor. The phone rang and it was Jay calling from the loft. He told me what had happened and I turned the radio on. We canceled our trip to Washington, and later I wondered if we should have gone anyway, because then we would have been part of that crowd that watched the funeral procession, a historic event. But on thinking of it all these years later, perhaps it was best because our presence might have been a burden on our hosts.

The week following was a media frenzy -- we all know how pervasive that can be. But we were glued to our TV and watched every minute of it. All these years later, it is still a sad event to recall.

Kennedy may not have come to the Presidency without his father helping behind the scenes, and he might have needed more seasoning, but his heart was in the right place and he was a champion of civil rights. Also, his Catholicism, that so many WASPS feared would guide his decisions (much as their religious faithful are trying to force their ethos on everyone today -- and isn’t that ironic), never became a problem and he did not, after all, call up the Pope on Day One to find out what to do next. Whew, what a relief. Now, of course, anyone running for the nomination in a Republican primary, must focus on his religious credentials and swear to impose his faith on everyone else before he has a chance.

Yes, Kennedy was a womanizer, but he was protected, unlike the media of today who lurk behind every corner looking to embarrass everyone. His infidelity would rule him out as a husband, but not as a President, in my view. Actually, I am not too upset with the outing of someone who blethers about family values, while screwing around. It’s the hypocrisy that is despicable.

Kennedy's assassination was a tragic moment for the country and it changed everything.

Xx, Teal