Mrs. PAINE - I fixed breakfast for myself and my children, turned on the television set to hear President Kennedy speak in Fort Worth, and had breakfast there. I left the house about 9 with my little girl and boy, because she had a dentist appointment, the little girl. I left the television set on, feeling that Marina might not think to turn it on, but I knew that she would be interested to see President Kennedy.
I then was gone until nearly noon, 11:30 or so, both to the dentist and on some errands following that, came back and there was coverage of the fact of the motorcade in Dallas, but there was no television cameras showing it, as you know, and. Marina thanked me for having left the television set on. She said she woke up in kind of a bad mood, but she had seen the arrival of President Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy at the airport in Dallas, and had been thrilled with this occasion and with the greeting he had received, and it had lifted her spirits.
Very shortly after this time, I had only just begun to prepare the lunch, the announcement was made that the President had been shot, and I translated this to Marina. She had not caught it from the television statement. And I was crying as I did the translation. And then we sat down and waited at the television set, no longer interested in the preparing of lunch, and waited to hear further word.
I got out some candles and lit them, and my little girl also lighted a candle, and Marina said to me, "Is that a way of praying?", and I said "Yes, it is, just my own way." And it was well over an hour before we heard definitely that the President was dead.
Mr. JENNER - How did that come to your attention?
Mrs. PAINE - It was announced on the television. I think it was even still in the intervening time. It was announced on the television that the shot which was supposed to have killed the President was fired from the Texas School Book Depository Building on Elm.
Mr. JENNER - Did you communicate that to her?
Mrs. PAINE - Marina at this time was in the yard hanging some clothes. I recall going out to her and telling her this.
Mr. JENNER - What did she say?
Mrs. PAINE - I don't believe she said anything. I then also--
Mr. JENNER - Excuse me. You say "I don't believe she said anything." Is it your recollection?
Mrs. PAINE - I don't recall anything at all that she said.
Mr. JENNER - Would you--
Mr. McCLOY - You told her that you had heard over the television?
Mrs. PAINE - I heard that the shot had been made--
Mr. McCLOY - Coming from the Texas School Book Depository?
Mrs. PAINE - Schoolbook depository, and I believe I also said I didn't know there was a building on Elm.
Senator COOPER - Why did you go out to tell her, this fact?
Mrs. PAINE - I felt this was terribly close, somebody working in that building had been there. I thought Lee might be able to say somewhat about what happened, had been close to the event. This was my thought, that we would know somebody who would be able to give or possibly give a first-hand.
Senator COOPER - Did you have any thought at all that Lee Oswald might have been the man who fired the shot?
Mrs. PAINE - Absolutely none; no.
Mr. JENNER - Why was that, Mrs. Paine?
Mrs. PAINE - I had never thought of him as a violent man. He had never said anything against President Kennedy, nor anything about President Kennedy. I had no idea that he had a gun. There was nothing that I had seen about him that indicated a man with that kind of grudge or hostility.
Mr. McCLOY - But you told this to Marina because of the association of Lee Oswald with the schoolbook depository?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes. I then proceeded to hang some clothes.
Mr. JENNER - She did not comment?
Mrs. PAINE - She did not comment.
Mr. JENNER - Made no comment?
Mrs. PAINE - That is my recollection, that she made no comment. I then helped hang the clothes. My recollection skips then to being again in front of the television listening, and it was then that we heard that the President was. dead. We were beth sitting on the sofa.
Mr. JENNER - Marina had come in from the yard?
Mrs. PAINE - Yes.
Mr. JENNER - From the hanging of the clothes?
Mrs. PAINE - I don't recall whether we came in together or whether she preceded me into the house while I finished hanging up the clothes. But I do recall then next sitting on the sofa when the announcement was definitely made that the President was dead. And she said to me "What a terrible thing this was for Mrs. Kennedy and for the two children." I remember her words were, "Now the two children will have to grow up without the father." It was very shortly after this we were still sitting on the sofa.
Mr. McCLOY - Just take a little time and compose yourself.
Mrs. PAINE - My neighbor, Mrs. Roberts, came in, really I think to see if we had heard, and--
Senator COOPER - Why don't you rest a few minutes?
Mrs. PAINE - I can proceed. I recall my feeling of anger with her for not being more upset, or she didn't appear to me to be, any more than reporting a remarkable news item. Then it was shortly after that that the bell rang and I went to the door and met some six officers from the sheriff's office and police station.
Mr. JENNER - Was this approximately 3:30 p.m.?
Mrs. PAINE - Oh, I think it was earlier, but I wouldn't be certain. I know that we had put our children to bed. They were all taking a nap, though I am not certain. Yes, my little girl was asleep also. I cried after I had heard that the President was dead, and my little girl was upset, too, always taking it from me more than from any understanding of the situation. And she cried herself to sleep on the sofa, and I moved her to her bed, and Christopher was already asleep in his crib. June was in bed asleep.
Mr. JENNER - Was Marina emotional at all? Did she cry?
Mrs. PAINE - No. She said to me, "I feel very badly also, but we seem to show that we are upset in different ways." She did not actually cry.
Mr. McCLOY - May I go back a moment there, if I may. You said you were Sitting on the sofa--that she and you were sitting on the sofa. While you were listening or looking at the television, was there any announcement over the television of a suspicion being cast at Lee?
Mrs. PAINE - It had just been announced that they had caught someone in a theatre, but there was no name given.
Mr. McCLOY - So up to this point there was no suggestion that Lee was involved?
Mrs. PAINE - No; not until the time the officers came to the door.
