Help with an article
 

I am currently writing an article for a Canadian T-bred magazine entitled "book marks" with the subject matter the common responses will all have had to important dates of history: Where were you when Kennedy was shot/ Where were you on 9/11 but

in this case

it is to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Secretariat's passing. I visited him last in November 1988 and already he was notably off in his front due to the beginnings of the laminitis that would eventually require his euthanasia. I kept in contact via a groom and heard that in late September, despite all of the care provided, he had taken a turn for the worst.

I was not then TOO SHOCKED when I walked into a 7/11 that early October and read the news of his death. A day that lives right up there with those other tragedies.

Do any of you remember it that way?

Reponse to Historic Dates
 

Tim, the day JFK was shot I was serving in the USAF in Special Air Missions, at Andrews AFB, assigned to LBJ's VC140, which he used to fly into his Texas ranch.
I was on the flight line when they brought JFK back, quite a sad memory watching Jackie deplane and unloading of the casket.

Quite different from when John Glenn returned from the 1st space orbit.

During 9/11, I was getting a haircut and watched in shock,the 2nd plane crash into the tower

BobP

that is all well and good, but I was looking for the reactions of people, IF there were any on, October 4th, 1989

I can't recall how soon before Oct 4 that it was, but I do remember that I got some advance word on his condition.

I was working at WCBS-TV and a friend in the sports department who knew I was into racing called me. He said it was "on the wire" that Big Red was ailing and that they were no longer allowing visitors.

This could have been a month or a week prior - I can't remember and honestly, my tenure at the place was the worst professional experience of my life. But I do know that I was still shocked to hear he passed away as he will always be remembered by me as an important barometer. It was to see him that I first attended a race track. I had never even made a wager prior to that.

Somewhere around here I have a two-dollar ticket on his Belmont win.

I suppose that Big Red giant was such a part of me that I remember hearing of his passing so much. After he was euthanized, I sent a note to Penny Tweedy via the Jockey Club with my favorite shot of him cribbing on the fences at Claiborne (used to be my avatar at Paceadvantage). She responded a month later with HER favorite photo and a great handwritten note that I have framed in the entry of the house.

I have videotape of our feeding him peppermints and begging on the ground for more. How many times in one's life do you encounter such a force of nature as this one was? It was akin to visiting Mohamed Ali, Babe Ruth, Joe Montana, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods manifested in a single individual. I befriended so many at that classical breeding farm in little Paris, Kentucky, received one of his shoes that I have kept over the years and just to have breathed the same air with this one was enough for me as that is the closest thing to perfection I have ever witnessed, up close and personal.

I will never forget this one and how his life touched me and set me thinking about a new path that has come to fruition just recently.

I was in flight school at NAS Pensacola and was walking into the exchange to get something to eat when I saw the head lines on a USA Today newspaper stand. Ruined my day.