The CHAIRMAN. Ekdahl or Oswald.
Mrs. OSWALD. Mr. Oswald, sir, I am sorry.
John Edward and I were coming from the park one day, and Mr. Ekdahl
picked--Mr. Oswald picked me up, and he was separated from his wife,
however, not divorced but had been separated for a number of years, and
I started dating Mr. Ekdahl and we decided to marry and he divorced his
wife.
Mr. RANKIN. You said Ekdahl again.
Mrs. OSWALD. Oswald, I am sorry, and then he got the divorce
proceeding. He was separated for a long time but never had been
divorced from his wife but when we knew he was going to marry, and I
also then got the divorce from Mr. Pic. I was not divorced there from
Mr. Pic, either. We were legally separated but I was not divorced from
him.
So, Mr. Oswald and I married and of that marriage Robert was born 9
months later, and as you know consequently Lee, 2 months after his
father had died.
Now, Mr. Oswald was a very good man. There was the only happy part of
my life. When he died hardly anybody knew that John Edward Pic was not
his son. He wanted to adopt John Edward, but because his father was
supporting him which I think was only $18 a month, I explained to Lee
that I thought we should save this money for the boys' education and
let his own father support him and naturally we would educate and do
all we could do but that was no more than right. So that is why he did
not adopt John Edward.
Now, that is the story of my three marriages. I have been married
approximately 9 years in the three times that I have been married,
sir, and I would say, I am probably guilty of a lot of things but the
initial guilt has never been mine in any of these marriages, the first
marriage I had explained, the second marriage was death, and the third
marriage was Mr. Ekdahl.
I think then you know the rest of the story, how I lived with my
children and tried to support my children.
I have often held two jobs trying to support my children. I have a
whole file that the Commission has copies of jobs that I have worked,
and I have also worked for these places twice, and have gone back. I
have wonderful recommendations. I think I have been fired about five
times in my life, and I have had much, much employment, and the reason
for that is finances, in other words, I have always had a very low
salary, and I am a very aggressive sales person, as these papers say,
and I always produce for my people and I was in demand actually.
They would come to me and offer me 20, 25 dollars more, believe me,
gentlemen. I would quit the job where I was and quit the new job
because 25 dollars paid my light and heat bill and gave my children
some clothes and that is mostly the reason for all of this employment,
and also I used to quit my job as much as possible in the summer time
when the children were little in order to be home with them.
Now, I skipped a part in the beginning about the children being placed
in the Lutheran Home. I am Lutheran and I was a church member, a church
worker, I should say. I helped, I sewed, natural gifted, I never did
take a lesson, I never did use a pattern, my sister can verify this.
I used to come home from the attorneys with material, cut out the
material, sew it, press it and go out on a date. I just had the knack
of doing things that way, sir, and she can verify this because my
niece, I taught her to sew and my sister said, "You are so slow, Aunt
Marguerite used to sew on the material and go out on a date," and my
niece would say, "Is it true, my mother said you would sew on material
and go out on a date," and I said, "I wish I had a nickel for every
time I did."
So those are gifted things I can't explain.
Lee had certain gifted ways about him also.
In the early part of my life that I had skipped when the war broke
out and my finances were gone, I talked with the church. It was on
Alva Street in New Orleans, not too far where my home was and they
investigated the money I had, and I had a little money left at this
time and they let me place the two older boys in the Lutheran Home
which is a home only for the Lutheran Church.
This is not an institution. They have their own private school on the
ground, and it is primarily based for children of one parent. However,
they do take orphans. It was really not designed to be an orphan
home. It was for children of one parent and you pay according to your
circumstances, and they investigated my salary and after I went to
work, I paid according to my circumstances for my two boys.
I took my two boys home with me every weekend, sir, and brought them
back in time for Sunday so they can go to church with the children in
the home. They got a wonderful education because the school on the
school grounds had very few children in them.
There would be maybe two or three children to a particular grade so
they had wonderful school. Lee was too young. They would not take Lee
into the home until he was 3 years old.
So, I have hired maids and I have quit many a job for this. You have a
background on my job, this accounts for it. Many a position and I have
always had title and no money, assistant manager or manager in charge
of a department, and I have had to quit that, because the maid wouldn't
show up, and you couldn't get a maid for love or money.
War had broken out and the Negroes in New Orleans were going into
factories and so on and so forth so there is many a job I had to leave
in order to stay home and mind Lee until I could get help.
Then my sister helped with Lee. There is one particular instance, I let
a couple have my home, plus $15 a month in order to care for Lee while
I worked, and this couple after about 2 month's time had neglected Lee
and so I had to put them out of the house and there again I had to quit
a job, and take care of Lee until I could make arrangements and my
sister could help me with it.
So when Lee was 3 years old I was having it very difficult with Lee,
because of the different people to take care of Lee, and the different
jobs that I had to give up.
However, I was never in want of work. It was during the war and I was
always able to get work, but I realized if I continued to quit jobs
because I couldn't hold the jobs that some day I wouldn't have enough
jobs in New Orleans for me to hold one.
So, then at age 3 Lee was placed in the home. I waited patiently for
age 3 because I wanted naturally for the brothers to be together. It
was hard on Lee also because Lee was at a different place and his
brothers were at a different place. So at age 3 I placed Lee in a
Lutheran home. Of course, you have to be under strict investigation
financially and otherwise to do this because this is a church
placement, sir.
Then, I became manager of Princess hosiery shop on Canal Street. I
opened that shop and I was left by myself and in 6 days' time I hired
four girls. There was the first shop this man has had. He now has, I
think, 54 stores and he always remembers me as on the road of starting
him to success, because this young man didn't have much money at the
time. And this is where I met Mr. Ekdahl and there is why I didn't want
to marry right away because the children were being taken care of and I
was manager of the hosiery shop.
So, now, I was sitting pretty in our American slang and I did not want
to marry. But he persisted. He decided he wanted to marry me and I
decided to marry him. I went to the Lutheran home and talked to the,
well, you don't call him a manager, the head of the home, and I was
going to marry Mr. Ekdahl, and I asked if I should have, if I could
have Lee, that I didn't want the children, John Edward, and Robert
to miss their schooling and I told them that I would wait until the
children got out of school to marry Mr. Ekdahl but Mr. Ekdahl traveled,
and, yet, he had a stroke and Mr. Ekdahl had offered, if I would come
to Dallas, he was being transferred to Dallas, that he would pay my
room, my living quarters and everything if I would cook and take care
of him and I told the home, the Lutheran home about this arrangement,
so there was nothing going to be immoral about it, sir, or I wouldn't
have explained to the Lutheran home and they let me have Lee under
those circumstances because they knew that I was a good woman and doing
the best I could.
So, I got Lee, and when we went to Dallas, I then realized I did not
want to marry Mr. Ekdahl, but I had already given up my position as
manager of the hosiery shop, and had taken Lee out of school so with
the money, I told you I had some money, and I had sold a piece of
property, I bought another piece of property for a very small down
payment on Victor Street in Dallas, Tex., and Mr. Ekdahl traveled.
Now, Mr. Ekdahl used to come on weekends and stay at my home. Of
course, in his bedroom with my children, just maybe not even every
weekend because he traveled, and then I decided I would marry Mr.
Ekdahl. I mean I decided not to, I mean, he was a persistent one.
Then I married Mr. Ekdahl and the home was sold and I traveled with Mr.
Ekdahl and the children were put into military school with the money I
sold the home with.