Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. In September.
I have the impression it was in September. But it is, again, only a
recollection, because I remember that it was a very hot day--very
sunny, hot day. So it could be in October. And also in October we
started working on this campaign, cystic fibrosis campaign, and were
very busy.
But it might have been in October.
Mr. JENNER. Mrs. Ford's recollection is that Marina was at her
home--she came there on November 11, and left on November 17.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. It could be that.
Mr. JENNER. And this is while Marina was separated temporarily from her
husband?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes. Unless she had been twice at her home. I
think she was only once at her home. There were three homes--once at
Mellers, the Fords, and the third at the Rays, one after another, in
succession.
Mr. JENNER. Now, this is apparently part of that series of changes she
made when she left, herself--that is, this was not an occasion when you
took her?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No; I think that is the occasion we took her--we
took her to the Mellers, and then she moved from them by herself--that
we had no knowledge of. How she moved or who took her from one house to
another, I do not know.
Mr. JENNER. You have a recollection there were two periods--one period
that you are talking about when you took her from the home, and then
another period when she left the home, herself?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. That could be, very easily. But then it would
fit very well in my schedule--that would have been the second
time--because, at that time, we were not seeing the Oswalds. We were
busy on something else, Jeanne was working both in the store and at
the foundation, I was preparing my project, and we were very busy, and
didn't see anybody, practically, and especially the Oswalds.
October, November; I don't think we saw them at all in October,
November, December.
Mr. JENNER. Did I ask you about Betty MacDonald this morning, as to
whether she was at that February 1963 party?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Oh, yes; I think that is the librarian. The name
MacDonald sounds familiar to me. Is she Pierce's fiance? That is how I
remember her.
Mr. JENNER. I am just trying to get these two events. Marina recalls
when they lived on Elsbeth Street she had a dispute with Lee,
and--about her Russian friends, in which he said, "Well, if you like
your friends so much, then go ahead and live with them."
And she said that left her no choice, so she got in a cab and went over
to Anna Meller's house with the baby.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Oh, that is how she described it.
Mr. JENNER. She was there a week.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. That was the second time? What month was it?
Mr. JENNER. I don't know.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Well, we took her there. But maybe she went there
for the second time, you see.
Mr. JENNER. Well, she may have forgotten you took her.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes; maybe she forgot it. You know, we took all
the furniture also. I could not forget that--because my car was loaded.
You could practically feel the ground. I still have the same car in
Haiti today.
We had a tremendous load in our car. It took us the whole day to load
and unload and carry them.
Mr. JENNER. Now, she voiced the opinion that--she said Lee liked you.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I am sorry that he did, but, obviously he did.
Mr. JENNER. She said because you were a strong person. She is
expressing her opinion now, of course. But he only liked you among all
this group. He disliked Bouhe, he disliked Anna Meller.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. That I am surprised, because Bouhe is very--a
person that you can like or dislike immediately. As to Mrs. Meller, I
am surprised, because she is very kind and a nice person.
Mr. JENNER. Well, this is Lee Oswald. That could possibly arise out of
the fact that Anna Meller befriended her when she left the household.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. That is right.
Mr. JENNER. I don't know what the reason was.
But you have confirmed the fact that he didn't care for the people in
the Russian colony.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. He did not have any friends, you see. Maybe
he identified me not as a Russian, because I have not much Russian
blood in me anyway. Maybe he identified me as some sort of an
internationalist, American.
Mr. JENNER. Maybe you are.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I am trying to think of other friends that he
had. I cannot recall, myself, a friend of his, actually. I could not
say that. He could be my son in age, you see. He is just a kid for me,
with whom I played around. Sometimes I was curious to see what went on
in his head.
But I certainly would not call myself a friend of his.
Mr. JENNER. Well, that may well be.
But Marina, at least, expresses herself that way--that you "were the
only one who remained our friend."