Lee had a normal life as far as I, his mother, is concerned. He had a
bicycle, he had everything that other children had.
Lee has wisdom without education. From a very small child--I have said
this before, sir, and I have publicly stated this in 1959--Lee seemed
to know the answers to things without schooling. That type child, in a
way, is bored with schooling, because he is a little advanced.
Lee used to climb on top of the roof with binoculars, looking at the
stars. He was reading astrology. Lee knew about any and every animal
there was. He studied animals. All of their feeding habits, sleeping
habits. He could converse--and that is why he was at the Bronx Zoo when
he was picked up for truancy--he loved animals.
Lee played Monopoly. Lee played chess. Lee had a stamp collection, and
even wrote to other young men and exchanged stamps, sir.
And Lee read history books, books too deep for a child his age. At age
9 he was always instructed not to contact me at work unless it was an
emergency, because my work came first--he called me at work and said,
"Mother, Queen Elizabeth's baby has been born."
He broke the rule to let me know that Queen Elizabeth's baby had been
born. Nine years old. That was important to him. He liked things of
that sort.
He loved comics, read comic books. He loved television programs. But
most of all he loved the news on radio and television. If he was in
the midst of a story, a film--he would turn it off for news. That was
important.
And I have stated in 1959, which is in print, that Lee loved maps. Lee
would study maps, sir. And he could tell you the distance from here and
there. And when he was home on leave, I was amazed. Something was said
about an airplane trip. Immediately he knew how many miles in the air
that that plane took.
Lee read very, very important things. And any and everything he could
do.
Yet he played Monopoly, played baseball.
He belonged to the "Y." He used to go swimming. He would come by work
with his head wet, and I would say, "Hurry home, honey, you are going
to catch cold."
And I considered that, sir, a very normal life.