Mr. JENNER. The death of your stepfather?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir; somewhere around there. We went to a boarding school
over in Gretna, La. Infant Jesus College was the name of it, I believe,
both Robert and I, and we hated the place.
Mr. JENNER. That was a very short period of time?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir; because we hated the place.
Mr. JENNER. I will get to that in a moment.
Mr. PIC. I don't know whether it was before Washington or after. I
think it was before Washington.
Mr. JENNER. Perhaps I can refresh your recollection this way. Your
stepfather died in August of 1939. You were then living in the house at
the corner of Alvar and Galvez which you recall as Alvez and Galvez.
Do you recall that some months after the death of your father and in
the following year, the late winter or early spring, that you moved
from that house?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Do you recall a physician by the name of Mancuso?
Mr. PIC. It may or may not be familiar, sir. I don't know.
Mr. JENNER. He was the doctor who delivered Lee, and also the man who
rented the house in which you had been living. Do you recall that?
Mr. PIC. No, sir.
Mr. JENNER. You do recall leaving that house in which you had been
living at the time of the death of your stepfather?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir; sometime afterward.
Mr. JENNER. Do you recall that it was a matter of months and not a
matter of years?
Mr. PIC. It had to be months, sir, because I have got something else
for 1940 here.
Mr. JENNER. When you moved from the house in which you had been living
at the time of the death of your stepfather, do you recall moving to
1242 Congress Street?
Mr. PIC. No, sir. I remember moving to a Bartholomew Street.
Mr. JENNER. That Bartholomew Street, I will get to that in a moment,
perhaps to refresh your recollection was a little house that your
mother purchased on contract.
Mr. PIC. What, Bartholomew?
Mr. JENNER. Yes.
Mr. PIC. I remember that house.
Mr. JENNER. 1010 Bartholomew.
Mr. PIC. That could be it, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Before you moved to 1010 Bartholomew you lived, did you
not, at 1242 Congress?
Mr. PIC. I don't remember, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Your mother didn't sell the Alvar Street house until
January of 1944.
Mr. PIC. I thought it was sold the day we moved out.
Mr. JENNER. It was rented by Dr. Mancuso the day you moved out, and
ultimately your mother regained possession in January 1944, and he then
purchased that house substantially contemporaneously, in January of
1944.
Mr. PIC. Can I ask you a question?
Mr. JENNER. Yes, sir.
Mr. PIC. Being Mr. Oswald was in the insurance business, and being I
was rather young, how did he leave her, I have no idea.
Mr. JENNER. Well, I will answer that question. You tell me what you
thought at the time and what your impression now is.
Mr. PIC. Well, he didn't leave her much is what I was told.
Mr. JENNER. Was that the feeling you had at the time?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Well, he did leave a small insurance policy, and the house
on Alvar, on the corner of Alvar and Galvez, which was being purchased
under contract, and that is about all.
I take it, it is your recollection, Sergeant, that when you and your
mother and Robert and Lee, who was then an infant child, just a few
months old, left the house on 2109 Alvar you entered some institution.
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. And what is your recollection of that institution?
Mr. PIC. I believe it was in Gretna, La.
Mr. JENNER. Spell that for the reporter.
Mr. PIC. G-r-e-t-n-a, a whole bunch of little towns right across the
river from New Orleans, West Wego, and a couple of others, that was one
of these, I think it was Gretna, it might be in one of that group.
Mr. JENNER. Yes.
Mr. PIC. And the name of the school was Infant Jesus College and it was
a Catholic school, sir. And us not being Catholics they lowered the
boom on us.
Mr. JENNER. That would be you and your brother?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. And you were at that time just about 8 years old. Was it
before your 8th birthday or what?
Mr. PIC. I wouldn't remember that, sir.
Mr. JENNER. It was in 1940, however?
Mr. PIC. I thought it was in the end of 1939. It is either the end of
1939 or early 1940.