Ernestine Cole Oral History

In 2010, I was invited by the Center for Vital Longevity at the University of Texas at Dallas to speak to three groups of senior citizens who were participating in a cognitive vitality study. After each presentation (April, July and November), I invited seniors to record brief one-on-one oral histories about their memories of President Kennedy and the assassination. This was one of the first times that the Museum had conducted short, on-the-spot interviews as part of community outreach. These 2010 sessions, during which twenty-five seniors recorded brief interviews, proved to be so successful that the Museum has actively pursued oral history community outreach ever since. Each year, brief interviews are recorded with a wide variety of personalities at retirement homes, churches and community centers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. If you are interested in scheduling a Museum presentation and oral history outreach in DFW, please contact oralhistory@jfk.org.

Ms. Cole was interviewed as part of the third and final group of seniors in the UTD study. All interviews were recorded at C.C. Young retirement community in Dallas. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator