By Mary B. Killeen
I am looking back and reflecting on events that occurred in the 1960s in the context of both my externally and internally perceived violence. These reflections were stimulated by a recent conversation with my daughter Maureen arising from the Politico magazine article, The Hidden History of America (Dec. 2023). The Politico article included an interview with me and photos about events partially based on The Incident on Buster Drive (2018) article that I wrote for the Historical Society of Michigan magazine.
Three times in the 1960s, a major violent political crisis hit me personally and violently and the trauma lingers.
First was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963. I was the only RN working in the labor and delivery unit when the first news bulletin came over the radio intercom in our break room – President Kennedy has been shot!
My labor patient needed me at that very moment, so I put my shock temporarily aside and assisted her in the birth of her baby – soon after a new life in the world took the place of the one leaving!
He was gone!!
I learned this as a fact post-delivery when I was alone and doing the paperwork. I was so angry – I banged instruments into the sink; I kicked desk drawers shut as I cried.
For the following days, like everyone in our country, I was in a state of shock and anger and disbelief. My third trimester pregnancy required me to be home for the long weekend and I was glued to every piece of the unfolding drama of events on TV. I sat propped on pillows embroidering the christening outfit I made for my baby-to-be, named Maureen. I was 21 years old at the time of Kennedy’s assassination.
Second, the Incident on Buster Drive, five days of racially inspired mob violence outside our front door, was national news and considered a precursor to the Detroit Riot of 1967 that occurred less than a month later.
A mixed-race couple moved into the house directly across the street from our new home in June 1967. This sparked ugly reactions on our street and in the local county. We had two daughters: Maureen, 3-1/2, and Eileen, 1-1/2. They were so small and so precious as they slept in their pretty pink organdy beds through the nightly turmoil while I paced about the house unable to sleep for three nights. I watched soldiers carrying rifles marching in formation to move the mob from outside just a few feet from our girls’ bedroom window. On the third night of the riot, I was on the verge of hallucinating as I imagined the previous burning cross on the lawn across the street being lit again. The violent effects on our family continued afterwards. I was 25 years old at the time of our riot on Buster Drive in Warren, Mich.
Third, the day when Martin Luther King was put to rest after being shot dead occurred on April 9, 1968, the same day of great personal joy when my son George was born. What a see-saw event of joy and anger and sadness! The events of the entire burial day unfolded on live TV. I watched all of it while little George lay in his hospital crib next to my bed.
I was a postpartum patient in the hospital where I had worked for five years surrounded by my sorrowful former coworkers. One Black aide I knew well came into my room that morning. With a look between us, she closed my curtains, sat down beside me, and we talked and wept! So much pain!! I was 26 years old.
Every year since those three events — on the anniversaries of the Kennedy assassination, the Detroit Riot, and King’s assassination — I reflect and worry and wish for a better world. These powerful and violent events occurred over 50 years ago and still make me gasp and shiver and pray for myself, our family, and our country.
References
Killeen, M. (2018). The Incident on Buster Drive, A Precursor to the 1967 Detroit Rebellion, Michigan History, Vol 102; 1, 56-57.
The Hidden History of America’s Suburbs – POLITICO
Mary B. Killeen, RN, PhD, and her husband, Tom, have lived in Marion Township for 34 years. Killeen retired from U of M-Flint and volunteers for the Livingston County Health Department
