“We thought that it must be a mistake. People don’t shoot presidents.”

Robert Bellefleur, Madawaska. He was a seventh-grader at Madawaska High School.

The teacher “got called out and came back in the classroom, and I’ve never seen anyone so white in my life. I really thought the man was going to pass out.”

Barbara McDade, director, Bangor Public Library. She was an eighth-grader at Ebensburg Grade School, Ebensburg, Pa.

“I walked outside and tried to take it all in, to kind of figure out what was going on. It really was like a funeral in the family.”

Gov. John Baldacci, Augusta. He was a third-grader at St. John’s School in Bangor.

“I vividly remember having the TV on and seeing that policeman move forward as Ruby moved in and shot Oswald.”

William Imes, president, Bangor Theological Seminary. He was a 21-year-old Latin teacher at Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N.H.

“We were informed on the PA, and everything went deathly quiet. No one seemed to have anything to say or any way to respond to what they had just heard.”

Dick Durost, executive director, Maine Principals’ Association. He was a freshman at Aroostook Central Institute in Mars Hill.

“I was at school and I remember it coming over the loudspeaker … the buses didn’t run and I remember walking home.”

Linda Cool, Gardiner. She was a sophomore at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield.

“I was in an isolated area called the Tombs, doing research. … I came up and everyone was gone. A couple of people were running around crying.”

Blair Ingalls, Franklin. He was working in Union Carbide Corp.’s nuclear division in upstate New York.

“I reflected back to his inauguration. … I thought about what he said – ‘Ask not what your country can do for you’ – I think it was the first time in my life I voted for a Democrat.”

Retired Marine Col. Bruce MacLaren, Belfast. He was a 32-year-old captain in Washington, D.C.

“I was coaching the Colby College [men’s] soccer team. … We were playing in the NCAA Tournament at Tufts University [Medford, Mass.]. There was a call from the mother of one of my players, Peter Imes. … She told me Peter’s father had died from a stroke. While I was walking down from the press box, somebody had a radio on and yelled up ‘Kennedy has been shot.’ It was like a panicked scream.”

Husson College vice president for sports leadership and assistant baseball coach John Winkin.