The Babushka Lady and the Ambulance Driver

[Michael Hogan]

Assassination Eyewitnesses Recount J. F. Kennedy Murder

by Steven Addison

Staff Reporter

Sep 05 2006

It’s said anyone who was alive at the time remembers what they were doing the day John F. Kennedy was shot.

Later this month, Peninsula residents can hear first-hand from two people who were actually there.

White Rock Rotary Club will host two eyewitnesses to the JFK assassination, an event that has captivated historians and conspiracy theorists for 40 years.

Aubrey Rike, an ambulance driver and funeral home director from Dallas, and Beverly Oliver, a dancer thought to be standing near the presidential motorcade before the shooting, will be featured speakers at lectures, Sept. 22 and 23, at Earl Marriott Secondary’s Wheelhouse Theatre.

The Rotary fundraiser will benefit local and international projects.

Club member Frank Sequiera said the club hopes to host other speakers this year.

“We hope to do two or three a year. As a trial balloon we decided to do this one with JFK.”

White Rock Rotary will pay to bring the two witnesses from Dallas, as well as Colin McSween, a JFK historian who lives in Abbotsford.

Profits from ticket sales – 300 seats are available each night – will cover those expenses, with the rest heading for Rotary charities.

“If we sell out, we thought we’d make $6,000 or $7,000. That’s having tickets selling at $25 apiece.”

Sequiera hopes having two eyewitnesses will help fill the theatre.

Oliver is said to have been a friend of Jack Ruby, charged with shooting assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. She was a consultant for Oliver Stone’s 1991 film JFK.

She is believed to be the Babushka Lady, a nickname given to a woman seen filming the presidential motorcade, concealed by a scarf similar to those worn by elderly Russian woman.

Oliver stepped forward in 1970 – seven years after the assassination – claiming to be that woman. Her claims have never been confirmed.

Rike was the ambulance and hearse driver sent to pick up a man having an epileptic seizure that morning near Dealey Plaza, where the shooting occurred.

Rike later helped place the president’s body in a coffin and is said to have been present when the last rights were administered, witnessing an argument between Texas officials and Secret Service agents for custody of the body.

A number of theories exist regarding the president’s death, including whether Oswald was the lone gunman or part of a conspiracy.

Tickets may be purchased through Rotary. Call Sequiera, 604-538-8724 or Chuck Belotte, 604-541-4194.

http://www.peacearchnews.com/portals-code/...22129&more=

Edited September 6, 2006 by Michael Hogan

[Francesca Akhtar]

Sounds like an interesting event. Wish I could go. Are any of the local members of the forum planning to go?

If so maybe they could report back?