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Kathey Atkinson Oral History
Kathey Atkinson Oral History

Kathey Atkinson Oral History

Object number2011.001.0069
Date07/29/2011
ClassificationsOral Histories
Oral history interview subject Kathey Atkinson
Oral history interviewer Stephen Fagin
ObjectOral history
Credit LineOral History Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumBorn digital (.wav file)
DimensionsDuration: 52 Minutes
Collections
DescriptionAudio oral history interview with Kathey Atkinson. A Dallas schoolgirl, Atkinson shook hands with President and Mrs. Kennedy at Dallas Love Field and later waited outside Parkland Memorial Hospital for news of the president's condition after the assassination. A Dallas Times Herald photograph of Atkinson in tearful prayer was distributed internationally. One year after the Kennedy assassination, Atkinson produced a charity event at Southern Methodist University to benefit the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Interview conducted via telephone on July 29, 2011 by Stephen Fagin. The interview is fifty-two minutes long.
Curatorial Commentary
At the end of this telephone interview, I express my hope that we might be able to invite Kathey Atkinson to Dallas for a public program and a video interview. That plan was in motion for March 2013 when Kathey was suddenly and tragically diagnosed with cancer. Although we had hoped to reschedule her visit to Dallas, her health rapidly deteriorated, and Kathey Atkinson passed away on May 1, 2013, at the age of 61. While I will always regret not having the chance to meet her in person and take part in a Living History conversation, I am incredibly grateful that we had the chance to record this telephone interview. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator
In 2020, photographer Eamon Kennedy was the subject of an award-winning radio documentary, "The Grief of a Nation," which focused on his iconic image of young Kathey Atkinson in tearful prayer at Parkland Memorial Hospital (https://emuseum.jfk.org/objects/3454). Produced by and aired on RTE Radio 1 in Ireland, the audio documentary included excerpts from this 2011 oral history with Kathey. The full forty-four-minute program may be heard here: Documentary On One - capturing the grief of a nation (rte.ie). -- Stephen Fagin, Curator