Kenny G, a famous pop instrumentalist, created a version of the song Auld Lang Syne called the Millennium Mix.

During his magnificent instrumental of the song, he inserted radio and television broadcasts from the past. These segments of audio recordings included news, sports, and entertainment clips.

Since many of the clips in the song were from the first part of the 20th century, I don’t remember when they happened even though I have learned of many of them through studies.

One of the news clips was from 1963 when President Kennedy was shot and killed. I was 1 at the time, so my memory of this is vague.

Actually, I have no memory of this. Neither do I have a memory of 1968 when Martin Luther King was shot.

I can’t remember 1967 when Sen. Robert Kennedy was shot and killed.

In 1969, when Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon for the first time, I was 7 years old at the time but have no memory of that time in history.

There is no doubt that many do remember these times and exactly where they were and what they were doing when these things occurred.

Kenny G took this mix up to the turn of the century no doubt to include many generations in looking back on specific times in their lives.

Elvis died in 1977. I remember pulling into the parking lot at Canton Golf Club when I heard the news on the radio.

The parking lot wasn’t very full on that day. It is amazing how much detail one can remember when these occurrences happen.

It was around the same time that the airplane carrying the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd crashed, killing three of the band members.

I heard of the crash when arriving for classes at Cherokee High School. There was a sadness among many of the student body.

Babe Ruth held the home run record of 714 for many years in Major League Baseball.

Since baseball is referred to as the American pastime, everyone has heard of Henry “Hank” Aaron of the Atlanta Braves.

Although not really my favorite sport or my dad’s, history was in the making. Aaron was up to bat to break this long standing record.

I remember my dad calling me into my parents’ bedroom to listen with him on the radio as this historic event took place.

I remember him lying in bed when Aaron knocked the ball over the fence to break this long time record. I even remember which way the bed was turned when this happened. How weird is that?

In 1986, the space shuttle Challenger lifted off for space. The crew consisted of a school teacher who received much publicity for her participation in this adventure.

Shortly after lift-off, the Challenger exploded while thousands of people watched in person and on television.

I was working at Woodstock Gas Co. at the time. I was watching the lift-off from my desk along with J. B. Johnston my supervisor.

In 1997, I received a call from an old girlfriend telling me to turn on the television. Princess Diana had been killed in a car crash.

I was living in the “rock house” that my great-grandfather had built at the time. I was alone and watched and listened to the reports of how this humanitarian had been killed.

Again, it was one of those historic events where I remembered exactly where I was and what I was doing.

One of the biggest, if not the biggest historic event took place on September 11, 2001.

I was in a trailer on Sheriff’s Office property getting ready for a meeting to discuss the building of the new jail. We turned on the television to witness one of the worst tragedies in history.

The meeting was immediately canceled while it was decided what if anything could be done. It seemed like the world stopped for a little while. But this day was only the beginning of a war on terror that still goes on today.

Unless you have been in a coma for the last 40 years, you have your own memories of these incidents.

I only touched a few and feel sure you have already added more to it in your own mind.

This I do know. There will be more to come.

Chris Collett is a lifelong resident of Cherokee County.