Fifth Grade, Bobby Kennedy and Sam Vaughn
Senator Robert Francis Kennedy died at 1:44 AM on June 6, 1968 after being shot by Sirhan Sirhan the previous early morning. I mention it here because this event resulted indirectly in a traumatic event for me later that day. Be patient, as it will take me a minute to get to that. The names in this story have NOT been changed to protect the innocent. I was in Miss Lum’s fifth grade class at Whitmore Elementary School in my hometown of Ceres, CA at that time. Some of my classmates included Ron Megee, Debbie Rayford, Dave Stiffler, Eddie Morrow, Rita Woodral, Tim Crownover, Debbie Fabela, Robbie Spears, Jonni Dunnegan, Nick Chipponeri and Mark Lowe. During lunchtime, the school allowed kids to go home to eat but we weren’t supposed to go anywhere else. Being the adventurous and unbridled boys that we were, some of us would go instead to Ceres Billiards to shoot pool and play pinball. On one of these days, not the day recounted above, a few of us – Eddie, Dave and Tim went to the pool