Gayla Burke Oral History

Gayla Ruth Boss Burke celebrated her fourteenth birthday one month prior to the Kennedy assassination. At the time of her oral history in 1995, The Sixth Floor Museum was primarily interviewing individuals with direct connections to the assassination story, including eyewitnesses, law enforcement, government officials, news media, Jack Ruby acquaintances, Parkland Hospital staff members and individuals who saw the Kennedys on November 22, 1963. Gayla Burke's memories of not being allowed to miss school to see the presidential parade that day are among the first childhood recollections recorded for the Oral History Project. In the years ahead, hundreds of similar childhood recollections of President Kennedy and the assassination, shared by individuals around the world, would be added to the Museum's collection of living memory. - Stephen Fagin, Curator