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Kennedy Memorabilia Collector Shares Memories Of Fateful Day

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- November 22, 1963. Cheers in Dallas turn to cries of anguish.

President Kennedy has been shot.

Marian Jones was a Kennedy supporter right from the start.

The owner of the Games 'N 'At emporium on the South Side has a collection of memorabilia, which includes her "Students for Kennedy" button.

"I went to Catholic school, and Kennedy was the first Catholic president," she says. "Plus, he was so young and vibrant. We all really fell in love with him."

Marian and her classmates were seniors at Saint Michael's School on the South Side Slopes.

They were attending an assembly on that fateful day when their principal made an announcement none of them would ever forget.

"It came over the loudspeaker, President Kennedy has died," Marian recalls. "And that was just like, what? We couldn't believe it. Nobody knew what to do. It was just an awful, awful day."

Minutes later, she and her classmates had to pose for a scheduled yearbook photo.

"Nobody was clowning around," she said. "Nobody was looking at the camera. You could see the look on everybody's faces. How we all took the bad news."

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