Nellie Connally spent the first two weeks replaying the horrible events in her head.
Then she sat down with a yellow legal pad and recorded her memories of the day her husband, then-Gov. John Connally, was shot and President John F. Kennedy assassinated.Only recently has Nellie Connally, 77, begun reading her notes to a public still fascinated by the details of that fateful day.
"I awakened early on Friday morning, Nov. 22, 1963," she read Sunday to a crowd of 400 in a lecture hall at Fair Park. "The day was gray and somber. Rain was falling."
Nellie Connally read how she couldn't resist bragging as the motorcade drove toward Dealey Plaza. "I said, `Mr. President, you certainly cannot say that Dallas doesn't love you,' " she read. "And then I heard a loud terrifying noise. It came from the back."
Kennedy died shortly thereafter, but John Connally recovered and served as governor until 1968. He died in 1993. Jacqueline Kennedy (later Onassis), who was also in the car, died in 1994 of cancer.
At the reading, sponsored by the Dallas Historical Society, Nellie Connally acknowledged a book deal could be in the works. When she finished Sunday, the audience rose and applauded - a respectful tribute, no whoops or whistles.
"She's an eyewitness to history, and you always want an eyewitness," said Kenny McCullough, a junior college teacher of history and government who was a year old in 1963. "She was right there in the car. She's the only living one, and you've got to get her testimony."