I remember the year 1968 pretty well. I was 20 years old, and a lot was going on in my life.
I worked for David Taylor Research & Development, which is a Navy civil service job. I was working as a data processor and did some computer programming, but the computer as it is today came later on.
There was a lot of unrest in D.C. that year. I lived on the outer areas of D.C.
I wasn’t a part of the hippies or yippies, but I remember them well because there was a lot going on, and you could read about it in the papers. Besides being on the TV and news.
I had a supervisor who was black, and she didn’t have a lot to say about the blacks except they were “crazy.” She was very nice and had a good job.
I remember going down to D.C. one evening, probably around the time Martin Luther King Jr. was killed and Robert Kennedy. I always would go down Wisconsin Ave., which goes down near Georgetown and right near the White House. It was easier that way since I went through Bethesda, Md.
Something was going on: Too many people were out, and they could have been rioting, the closer I got to D.C. As I drove it started to get harder to drive through, then all of a sudden a mob from anywhere started surrounding my car. I inched my car through and wondered how I was going to get through this.
Finally, after which seemed like a long time, I was able to get through eventually. I didn’t stop or talk to anyone. I really cannot remember if anyone was with me in the car. I remember being alone.
When I read about this remembrance in the paper, this scene popped out. That was one thing I remember about that year. I probably was on my way to pick up my boyfriend, which is my husband today.
Katherine Sutton
Enid
