Documentary of JFK in Moses Lake to premiere Thursday

MOSES LAKE — On Sept. 26, 1963, President John F. Kennedy stepped off Air Force One onto the tarmac at Larson Air Force Base in Moses Lake. Instead of getting straight on another plane as scheduled, Kennedy stopped for a few minutes, shook hands and chatted with locals at the base. A documentary premiering Thursday at the Moses Lake Civic Center will offer a glimpse into that day.

“Imagine spending five minutes somewhere and making an impression on the people you meet for the rest of their lives,” says narrator Shane Humphrey in the 12-minute film “JFK in Moses Lake, Washington.” The film, made by filmmaker Lee O’Connor, features archive footage of Kennedy’s stopover and interviews with people who were present on that day. The screening is hosted by the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center.

“The president was scheduled to land in Moses Lake and go directly from Air Force One to a helicopter that was waiting to fly him to Hanford to make a speech at the groundbreaking of N reactor,” Museum Communications Coordinator Natalia Zuyeva wrote in an announcement, “but instead he took five minutes to shake hands and say hello to folks among the crowd of thousands who were there to greet him.”

O’Connor ran across the story of Kennedy’s stop while he was researching a book he’s been working on about the Cold War-era Titan missile sites in the area, he said.

“In the course of that research, I corresponded with the daughters of a helicopter pilot from Larson, and one of the daughters told me that they had a family film of JFK at Moses Lake,” O’Connor said. “I was immediately intrigued, and they gave me permission to digitize their home movie. And when I saw it, I realized that from my research, I had enough background to put it into context.”

Other people O’Connor had spoken to turned out to have memories of the event as well, he said. To these interviews he added information gleaned from the Air Force Historical Research Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers and back editions of the Columbia Basin Herald. The film also includes photos from the Moses Lake Museum & Art Center and archived interviews with the pilot, Donald Couture Sr., and Col. Clyde Owen, the last commanding officer of Larson AFB. Couture passed away in 2021, Owen in 2017.

Moses Lake was one of the last places Kennedy would visit, as he was assassinated just shy of two months later in Dallas, Texas. That knowledge adds a touch of bittersweet to the film, O’Connor said.

“When people tell their memories of meeting him, and they’re talking about this happy moment when they got to meet the president, you can also hear in their voices that they’re sad,” O’Connor said. “That tension, it’s poignant.”

O’Connor is a graduate of Sammamish High School in Bellevue, according to his online biography, and holds a bachelor’s in filmmaking and history from Evergreen State College and a master’s in history from Washington State University. He’s also the author of “Take Cover, Spokane: A History of Backyard Bunkers, Basement Hideaways, and Public Fallout Shelters of the Cold War.”

O’Connor is still working on his book about the Titan Missiles, he said, and would welcome information from anyone who has stories or memories to share. He can be contacted at oconnorlee@msn.com.

“(‘JFK in Moses Lake, Washington’) was a labor of love,” O’Connor said. “It’s like it just poured out of me. It took a lot of work, but it was easy and it was fun.”

‘JFK in Moses Lake, Washington’

6-6:30 p.m. April 17

Moses Lake Museum & Art Center

Civic Center Auditorium

401 S. Balsam St.

Admission is free.

    Author and filmmaker Lee O’Connor’s documentary “JFK in Moses Lake, Washington” will be shown at the Civic Center Auditorium Thursday.