Mr. JENNER. Blackie was the name of the dog?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Take that other exhibit and tell us what it was.
Mr. PIC. This was the same dog Lee had in 1948 when we returned from
the school. Exhibit No. 54 shows the same store in the background and
Lee Harvey Oswald, and a dog named Blackie. And to the right of the
picture is the roof and corner of the house.
Mr. JENNER. The house in which you lived?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. I offer in evidence John Pic Exhibits Nos. 54 and 55.
(John Pic Exhibits Nos. 54 and 55 were marked for identification.)
Mr. PIC. After the divorce she bought the house in Benbrook, Tex., and
then she was either working at or just got the job at Leonard Bros.,
Fort Worth, department store, Fort Worth, Tex.
At this time Robert and I were informed that we would not return to
Chamberlain-Hunt in the fall. This, I think, was the first time that I
actually recall any hostility towards my mother.
Mr. JENNER. On your part?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir; this was quite a blow to me because we did want to
go back. I had 2 more years in high school and I was going to be in the
11th grade and I did want to finish there.
Mr. JENNER. How did Robert react to that?
Mr. PIC. He felt the same way, sir. He wanted to go back. But we were
informed because of the monetary situation it would be impossible for
us to go back. In fact, my mother informed me that the best thing for
me to do was not return to school but to get a job and help the family
supplement its income.
Mr. JENNER. That is withdraw from school entirely?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir; I was 16 at this time. In September, Lee and Robert
returned to school, and I went to work. I obtained a job at Everybody's
Department Store which belonged to Leonard Bros. I was a shoe stock boy
at the salary of $25 a week.
Mr. JENNER. Did you pay some of that money to your mother?
Mr. PIC. I think at least $15 out of every pay check I did.
Mr. JENNER. $15 a week?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir; I think my take-home pay was $22.50 after taxes.
Which left me $7.50 to ride back and forth on the bus with.
Mr. JENNER. Did you continue to live in this home in Benbrook?
Mr. PIC. No, sir; about the same time that I went to work and Lee and
Robert returned to school is when my mother bought the house at 7408
Ewing.
Mr. JENNER. In Fort Worth?
Mr. PIC. That is right, sir. It was just impossible for her and I to go
to work and leave them out in the sticks, but being we moved on Ewing
they could walk to school. In fact, I left for work earlier than she
did, a couple of hours, in fact.
Mr. JENNER. Had Lee attended school in Benbrook, Tex.?
Mr. PIC. No, sir; not in the little house because we moved in the
summer and moved out in the early fall.
Mr. JENNER. Had he attended a day school or a nursery school in
Benbrook, Tex., at anytime to your knowledge over this period of years?
Mr. PIC. During the summer, sir, my mother worked at Leonard Bros., the
three boys were left alone at home.
Mr. JENNER. What about the previous years?
Mr. PIC. She didn't work the previous years. She was still married to
Mr. Ekdahl.
Mr. JENNER. I appreciate that. I wonder if he went to nursery
school--when you first went to Benbrook, Tex., when you were on
Granbury Road?
Mr. PIC. I wouldn't know that, sir.
Mr. JENNER. You have no impression?
Mr. PIC. That I don't remember.
Mr. JENNER. All right. You now started to work in the fall of 1948.
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. The family moves into Fort Worth at 7408 Ewing Street.
Mr. PIC. That is correct, sir.
Mr. JENNER. And Lee and Robert enter school in Fort Worth.
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Is that correct? Do you remember the school, one would be a
grammar school and one a junior high school.
Mr. PIC. I think Robert went to Sterling Junior High School. In fact,
she would drive him there in the morning, and Lee was going to Ridglea,
West Ridglea Elementary School, something like that.
Mr. JENNER. What happened to Lee? You were working.
Mr. PIC. Right.
Mr. JENNER. Robert was in school.
Mr. PIC. Right.
Mr. JENNER. And Lee was in school.
Mr. PIC. Right.
Mr. JENNER. Did Robert come home from school to take care of Lee when
he finished?
Mr. PIC. Lee returned home before Robert did, sir.
Mr. JENNER. What did he do?
Mr. PIC. I have no idea, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Your mother was at work?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. He would just come home and wait until somebody came home?