In 1963, on a Fall afternoon, two young
brothers were doing what brothers do and fighting in the yard in
front of their Grandmother's boarding house in Oak Cliff.
One of the roomers, who enjoyed sitting
on the front poarch and watching the boys play, covered the short
distance from his chair to the scuffle and physically pulled the two
boys apart and walked them to the stairs for a talk.
“Boys,” He began, “I want to tell
you something really important and I want you to listen.” He
continued on, “You're brothers. You have to look out for each
other.”
Then, in what would be considered, in
later years by those who did not know the man, to be a very out of
character for a person considered to be so cold and violent, the man
ended with “ Don't ever do anything to harm another human being.”
These words, hear by then 11 year old
Patricia Hall, were uttered by the man who just weeks later would
arrested for the assassination of the beloved President John F
Kennedy, which he would follow by gunning down Dallas Police officer
Tippet.
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| The Living Room |
This is the story related to me by the
owner of the boarding house where Lee Harvey Oswald spent the last
few weeks of his life paying $8 a week for a small, yet cozy,
boarding room. A room to which he would eventually return after
allegedly shooting the President to retrieve his pistol which he
would then use to gun down Officer J.D. Tippit just a short distance
from the rooming house.
Owner Patricia Hall, a very friendly
and cheerful sort, tells her memories of a very different man than is
portrayed in history books and if you stop by for a tour of the
rooming house located at N. Beckley Street in Oak Cliff, she will be
more than happy to share her memories and home with you during the
tour. There is even a book to purchase on site if you wish to delve
even deeper into the history of what occurred during Oswald's stay.
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| The very bedroom which Oswald rented, as it would have looked on that fateful day. |
I will tell you right now, it was a
crazy surreal feeling to be conversing with someone who knew Oswald
in a real way and I are up every moment of being blessed with
listening to stories and facts about this infamous character that
were not merely spewed forth from biased history books.
Am I going to say that history has been
wrong about this man and that we have been looking in the wrong
direction all of these decades. No, I will not be saying that. Nor
will I be saying that there are so many holes in the current theories
that the possiblitly that a killer did not have a soft and human
side. All I will stand by is that the story I was related really
painted an interesting perspective on a very old mystery and most
certainly made for guided tour I would be willing to take again.
Though the home has changed in some
ways since 1963, stepping inside still feels like you are stepping
back into the pages of history and having just spent a month reading
the Stephen King novel 11/22/63, I admit I felt exhilaration and a
definite case of the chills during my tour.
I can confidently say that the home's owner
Patricia, who can be found on Facebook she informed me, is amazing at
bringing the history and ambiance of the era to life and I enjoyed
her tour more than many I have been on lately. Definitely worth the
stop if you are in the area and worth the support us many history
buffs to keep it open!
Oh Yes! And what else might make it
worth your time and attention if you are a geocacher??
That could be JFK50GT #9: Boarding House, the multi-stage geocache hiding on
the property as part of the reward trail, just waiting for you to
come and find it!
Sorry... no spoilers here! ;)
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