Newsman was one
of few who attended Oswald funeral
By Rebeca Rodriguez
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Nov. 12, 1999
The sun was shining and a slight breeze was blowing at the
cemetery on that Monday in east Fort Worth.
The light-gray casket was lowered into a grave, and those
gathered bowed their heads.
Inside lay Lee Harvey Oswald, the 24-year-old man police believe
killed President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963.
Among the two dozen people gathered for Oswald's burial that day
was Bob Bruton, then a 31-year-old program director for KXOL/1360
AM radio in Fort Worth.
Bruton covered Kennedy's speeches in Fort Worth for the radio
station that fateful Friday and also reported the events that
unfolded at Dallas' Parkland Memorial Hospital in the moments
before Kennedy died.
"We worked all of Friday afternoon and night, and all day
Saturday," said Bruton, 67, of Colleyville. "Things
began to wind down Saturday afternoon and I went in to the
station and made a recording of my thoughts and
impressions."
Bruton only thought things had died down. He would soon be
reporting on another wrinkle in one of the biggest news stories
of the century.
The next morning, a Sunday, he was cooking breakfast at home and
was watching the transfer of Oswald to the Dallas County Jail.
"I saw [Oswald's] assassination on television live, as it
was happening," Bruton said. "I saw it and I was on my
way."
Bruton headed to Parkland once again, this time to report on
Oswald's death.
Oswald's funeral was held the next day at Shannon's Rose Hill
Cemetery in east Fort Worth.
"Everyone wanted to get it over with," Bruton said.
Bruton arrived at the cemetery, along with other news media
representatives, and entered the gates of the highly secured
cemetery. Three graves had been dug and Bruton did not know which
one was for Oswald. He wandered around trying to figure it out
when he saw a woman sitting alone in a car near one of the
graves.
"I walked up, introduced myself and asked, `Do you know
where they are burying Lee Harvey Oswald?' " Bruton said.
"She took me to the trunk of her car and there was a plaque
with black and gold letters that said Lee Harvey Oswald with his
date of birth and date of death."
The woman, who was a cemetery employee, and Bruton waited for
others to arrive.
Eventually, Oswald's widow, Marina; his mother; and his brother
arrived by limousine, escorted by Secret Service and FBI agents.
Bruton recalls that there was no minister in Fort Worth who would
agree to perform the last rites.
"There were a couple who agreed to say some words, but the
head of the ministerial alliance finally had to do the
service."
Oswald's family had not seen his body since he was killed, so the
casket was opened to let them take one last look, Bruton said.
Marina Oswald "took her wedding ring off and put it on the
right-hand little finger of Lee Harvey Oswald," Bruton
recalled.
"It was super somber," he said.