Marie Tippit dies

[Joseph McBride]

Marie Tippit died today at age 92 at a hospital near her home in Sulphur Springs, Texas. She

had COVID and died the day the Texas governor opened up the state "100%."  When I met

her in 2014 on her husband's 90th birthday at a tribute to him in the Sixth Floor Museum,

she expressed willingness to be interviewed by me, but Gary Mack and her Dallas Police

Department minder intervened. She seemed to be a nice lady. She was usually controlled by the DPD after the murder. She

knew a lot she did not tell the press, but I revealed some of it in INTO THE NIGHTMARE. The

Dallas Morning News obit predictably and falsely says her husband was killed by Oswald.

Edited March 3, 2021 by Joseph McBride

[Joseph McBride]

https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/2021/03/03/marie-tippit-widow-of-dallas-police-officer-gunned-down-by-lee-harvey-oswald-dies-at-92/

[Joe Bauer]

It was to me a surprisingly interesting aspect to the events of 11,22,1963 how much both Mrs. Tippit and Marina Oswald received in donated monies from tens of thousands of Americans sympathetic to their shared brutally murdered husband widowed plights.

Marina Oswald more so than Mrs. Tippit, obviously because of the widespread hate for Lee Harvey Oswald, generated in great part by the Dallas PD and Dallas DA who both publicly proclaimed Lee Oswald as the lone gunman guilty party in JFK's and Tippit's murders within just hours of their occurrence.

Dallas homicide Captain Will Fritz loudly proclaiming to a packed crowd of national and even international newsmen "This case is cinched!" We have our man.

Dallas D.A. Henry Wade when asked in front of a nationally broadcast news conference whether he felt Oswald was the guilty party said:

"I would say that without any doubt he's the killer - the law says beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty which I - there's no question that he was the killer of President Kennedy."

In today's dollars Mrs. Tippit received well over 1 million dollars, Marina Oswald less but still in the hundreds of thousands.

Marie Tippit and Marina Oswald came from backgrounds worlds apart, yet those who donated funds to them obviously chose to see them only in the view of widowed mothers with children / innocent victims of circumstances beyond their control.

I was inspired by that widespread humanitarian effort ( and in Marina Oswald's case a non-judgmental caring donation one) expressed by tens of thousands of Americans, many only able to send a few dollars. It reminded me that that kind of compassion and caring is truly a real trait of our society along with less than admirable others.

I always wondered about Mrs. Tippit's true life relationship with her husband J.D. Tippit. Was their marriage stressed? 

I wonder too whether J.D. Tippit was of a similar race sentiment as many if not most of his Dallas PD brethren. Did J.D. Tippit look upon JFK as most segregationist did at that time ... with vile hatred? Or, maybe he just wasn't of that more extreme view?

Edited March 3, 2021 by Joe Bauer

[Joseph McBride]

 

[Joe Bauer]

I can't sleep but about 3 to 4 hours a night (for years now) so when I saw this linked memorial video about Marie Tippit and that it was almost two hours in length, I figured heck ... I'll just keep it running and watch it as long as it held my interest.

I got through over half of it until the older church service person got up to talk about Ms. Tippit and apparently he and everyone else there failed to realize his microphone was shut off! 

More than half of the Marie Tippit church service audio was cut off on that video.

Obviously, as Joseph McBride has mentioned after meeting Ms. Tippit in person, she clearly seemed to be a good, kind, gentle, maternally loving, socially thoughtful and giving, unspoiled and unpretentious person. 

Amazing thru viewing hundreds of photos of her taken over the course of her life, she always seemed to have a kind, gentle, soft and even wise smile and look in her eyes "in every one" save for one or two?

A petite woman, wholesomely attractive without trying to be ( that picture of her with her daughter in their bathing suits when she must have been in her late 50's or early 60's was incredibly attractive for her age ) and she kept her health and fitness her entire long life it seems.

J.D. Tippet was obviously a very lucky man to have found and wedded such a good, kind, loving and moral woman.

I was impressed by her son's love and admiration for her all his life until her passing.

The son did talk about his father's killing. Supposedly by the hand of Lee Harvey Oswald. Only in a way however,  to describe Ms. Tippit's not expressing any animosity toward Oswald or his family ever. She harbored no vengeful or hateful feelings about her husband's killer or killers.

Also her son described Ms. Tippit's great appreciation for the huge world wide reaction to her widowed plight. The time, effort, kind sympathy and as we know massive financial aid giving to her by thousands of people really effected her sincerely.

I wonder if Ms. Tippit never went through rough financial stress after her husband's death due to the huge amount of funds donated to her?

And did she ever remarry?

Thanks for posting this Marie Tippit memorial tribute video JM. I found it warmly touching and interesting.

Seeing Ms. Tippit through this extensive photographic assemblage I got a sense that she truly was a good, kind, gentle, thoughtful, humble, moral and very maternally loving woman.

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by Joe Bauer

[Joseph McBride]

She was a charitable woman, yes, but when her son Curtis talked about

how she never bore anger toward Oswald and his family, I wondered

whether it was also because she may have known Oswald did not kill

her husband. My book INTO THE NIGHTMARE revealed that she

knew J. D. was sent by the DPD to hunt down Oswald in Oak Cliff

shortly after the assassination along with another officer (whom I

later recognized was William Mentzel, the officer assigned to that district). It is unknown whether Tippit and Mentzel

were told to capture Oswald or kill him, but that early pursuit well

before Oswald was officially identified by the DPD shows that Tippit

and Mentzel were part of the conspiracy and is further proof that

the DPD had knowledge of Oswald in Dallas before the presidential assassination.

Edited March 8, 2021 by Joseph McBride