Mr. JENNER. Was he--what about his habits in that respect? Did--your
mother taught him to return home immediately and to stay in the house
until she arrived?
Mr. PIC. I am sure he always did, sir, knowing his personality. He was
not the type to goof off in things like this.
Mr. JENNER. Did you notice any tendencies on his part to do heavy
reading at this stage of his life?
Mr. PIC. He always read a lot, sir.
Mr. JENNER. He did?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. What about his--was he gregarious or not? Did he exhibit
tendencies to be with other people and children in the neighborhood or
the contrary?
Mr. PIC. Not too much, sir. There weren't that many children his age
in the neighborhood. In fact, most of them were my age and my brother
Robert's.
Mr. JENNER. Did this age gap between you and Lee and between Lee and
your brother Robert affect your relationships with him now that you had
reached the age you were now 16, Robert was 14, and Lee was 9.
Mr. PIC. We played with Lee. Lee had his dog. On the weekends, Sunday,
we would all go to the movies, the whole family. I usually went to work
at sunup and returned at dark myself.
In the fall of 1948 it was the fad among high school students and young
teenagers to join either the National Guard or Naval Reserve or some
reserve outfit like this, so I was only 16 at the time, and I wanted
to do this, and my mother thought it would be a real good way to
supplement the income. So----
Mr. JENNER. Did you get paid for this service?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir; we would meet once a month and draw a day's salary,
something like this. It wasn't much money, a couple or $3 a meeting;
something like that. So we went to the notary, I think, this was
McLean's office and she swore to a notary that I was 17.
Mr. JENNER. But you were not in fact 17?
Mr. PIC. No, sir; I was 16. She gave my birthday as 17 January 1931.
Can we go off the record?
(Discussion off the record.)
Mr. PIC. OK, so I joined the Marine Corps Reserve sometime in October
1948. I was attached to the 2d, 155th Military Howitzer Battalion,
U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Fort Worth, Tex. About that time I started
thinking and decided regardless of how my mother felt what happened,
I was going to go back to school. So in January 1949 I went back to
school and finished my high school education.
Mr. JENNER. To what school did you return?
Mr. PIC. I attended Arlington Heights High School, sir.
Mr. JENNER. In Fort Worth?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Did you work after school? Did you do anything to
supplement your income?
Mr. PIC. I was able to retain my job at Everybody's as a stock boy for
about 1 month on this part-time basis but at the end of February they
informed me there was no way I could be kept on a part-time basis so
I left the job and I then got a job at Burt's shoestore. At Burt's
shoestore I was working part time but really making more than full time
because I was a stock boy at $15 and all the commissions I could make
in their stockroom plus all day Saturday.
Mr. JENNER. Selling shoes?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. What was your mother doing at this time?
Mr. PIC. I believe at this time, sir, she was working at Sterling's
Department Store in Fort Worth after leaving Leonard Bros., before I
left Everybody's, I think.
Mr. JENNER. Was Robert working after school?
Mr. PIC. Yes; he was working at the A & P.
Mr. JENNER. Had he been working at the A & P after school from the
previous fall?
Mr. PIC. This would be 1949. February 1949, and I am sure he was
working at A & P and going to school at that time, some time during
that period. He and I were both working and going to school, both.
So, in January 1949, I returned to high school, Arlington Heights High
School, Fort Worth, Tex., and was a junior, 11th grade there.
The school session ended and then I attended summer school to make up
for what I had lost at Paschal High School, Fort Worth, Tex.
Mr. JENNER. P-a-s-k-a-l?
Mr. PIC. P-a-s-c-h-a-l, sir; is the way they spell it, sir. I still had
the job at Burt's. So I attended summer school at Paschal, the summer
of 1949. September of 1949----
Mr. JENNER. Excuse me, what did Lee do now? Had he been in school in
the fall and winter of 1948 and the winter and spring of 1949?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. All right. Now, vacation is here. What did he do during the
summer? You went to school, and you worked at Burt's, what was he doing?
Mr. PIC. Playing around home. And going to this Camp Carter that we ran
across in the letter, I guess, I don't remember.
Mr. JENNER. What was Robert doing during the summer?
Mr. PIC. He was working at the A & P, sir; I believe.
Mr. JENNER. Were both of you boys contributing to the support of your
mother during this period?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Both of you?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Were you continuing to give your mother the $15 a week you
had started to give her in the fall of 1948?
Mr. PIC. Well, as far as I am concerned, being that I had no set
income, I worked on a guaranteed salary of $15 plus commissions my pay
might fluctuate between $20, $35 a week depending on how good a week I
had. And I pro-rated this accordingly with her.
Mr. JENNER. And was Robert contributing something as well?
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir; he was.
Mr. JENNER. Lee didn't work at any time?
Mr. PIC. No, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Did you ever recall Lee up through this time through the
summer of 1949 doing any work?
Mr. PIC. No.
Mr. JENNER. He is now 10 years old?
Mr. PIC. No, sir.
Mr. JENNER. He didn't have any paper routes or do the things that a
10-year-old sometimes does?
Mr. PIC. No, sir.
Mr. JENNER. All right.
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. We have now reached the fall of 1949.
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir; September 1949, I decided--well, let's go back to
when I went back to high school.
Mr. JENNER. All right. It is January of 1949.
Mr. PIC. Yes, sir.
Mr. JENNER. Lee was at Ridglea.
Mr. PIC. OK. I figured since I was smart enough to decide to go back
to high school and my mother tried to talk me out of it I felt it was
my own doing and therefore it was my own responsibility, so I decided
since that is the way she felt and that was the way I felt I would sign
my own report cards and take care of my own notes and everything.
My hostility towards her increased at this time because she pushed me
to work and make money, and I knew an education, as much as I could get
would be the best thing for me.
Since I took on the responsibility of going back to school I figured I
could take care of the rest of it and I wanted nothing from her in this
regard. This I did. I signed my own report card, wrote my own notes
when I played hooky and missed school.
Mr. JENNER. Signing her name?