President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963.
Businesses were closed for three hours in Gardnerville and Minden on Nov. 25, 1963, three days after residents learned of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22.
Friday marked 61 years since the president’s death after he was shot while riding in a Dallas motorcade.
Carson Valley residents spent the morning following the funeral services for Kennedy on television and radio.
“Flags, provided by the Carson Valley Lions Club for brighter occasions than this, were flow at half mast by business houses along main streets of both towns,” The Record-Courier reported. “At Stateline, the casinos ‘that never close’ were silent and the gaming tables empty.”
All county, state and federal offices closed in mourning, as were all schools which remained closed since early on Nov. 22, upon the news’ arrival.
“The unusual quiet and lack of activity, which was extremely noticeable everywhere Friday night, continued through Saturday and Sunday and on into Monday,” The R-C reported.
“The assassination of the President of the United States is something I thought I would see nowhere but in the history books,” said Nevada Republican Chairman and Gardnerville resident Jac Shaw. “It certainly shows how far we, as Americans, have to go in progressing towards the freedoms and peace in which President Kennedy certainly believed. This is a shock to all Nevadans.”
