Mitch Carnell

“We were in a staff meeting at the Cerebral Palsy Center on November 22, 1963, when we were interrupted with the news that President Kennedy had been shot. Paula Eagle, our director, Sally Coperthwaitte and I were scheduled to leave the next day for the convention of the Cerebral Palsy Association in Dallas. At first the convention was cancelled but then it was held as a memorial to the fallen president. What a terrible mistake. There were blaring television sets everywhere and tons of police and secret service agents. Paula was a Kennedy disciple and she was devastated.  We were there in the hotel lobby watching the television when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald.  What a nightmare. The place went wild. Paula was in tears most of the time and she consumed far too much alcohol. It was a traumatic experience for everyone.  Not much was accomplished in the scientific sessions. I did have an opportunity to meet many of the important professionals at the meeting including Dr. Martin Palmer founder of the Institute of Logopedics in Wichita, Kansas.  I could not know then that years later I would be a finalist in a nationwide search for his successor after his death.”

The death of Fidel Castro and what our relationship will be with Cuba with Donald Trump as our president have caused me to ponder this episode in my life again. It is from my book, Our Father: Discovering Family, published last year by www.wipfandstock.com.