Mrs. Ford.

No.

Mr. Liebeler.

Bertha Cheek?

Mrs. Ford.

No.

Mr. Liebeler.

John Cutter.

Mrs. Ford.

No.

Mr. Liebeler.

How about Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Johnson?

Mrs. Ford.

A. C. Johnson, I don't think so.

Mr. Liebeler.

Do you know of any connection between Mr. Oswald, Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby?

Mrs. Ford.

No; I don't know. I don't know that they knew each other.

Mr. Liebeler.

Would you tell the Commission, Mrs. Ford, how you first met the Oswalds?

Mrs. Ford.

We were invited there after lunch, the Oswalds had a luncheon at Anna Meller's house, and we were invited after luncheon to meet them, and that was our first contact with them.

Mr. Liebeler.

Can you tell me when that was, approximately?

Mrs. Ford.

I would say it was approximately at the end of August of 1962.

Mr. Liebeler.

Will you tell us who was at the luncheon?

Mrs. Ford.

I believe there was Mr. and Mrs. Ted Meller and George Bouhe and the Oswalds and ourselves, I believe that is all I remember.

Mr. Liebeler.

Who first told you about the Oswalds? Did you hear of them the first time that you came to that luncheon or had you heard of them before?

Mrs. Ford.

I had heard of them maybe a couple of weeks before from Mr. George Bouhe, I believe, who had told us that there was a young Russian girl came to Fort Worth and the man was out of a job, and that was the reason for us to try to help them. And she had a baby and so forth.

Mr. Liebeler.

Did Mr. Bouhe tell you anything else about the Oswalds?

Mrs. Ford.

No; he was just telling that the man was having a very hard time finding a job because the last job he had was in Minsk or so.

Mr. Liebeler.

He told you that Mr. Oswald had been in Russia?

Mrs. Ford.

Yes; he did. He told us about that he was in Russia and decided to come back and he brought a Russian wife with him who didn't speak English and had a tiny baby and both were having a very hard time at the moment.

Mr. Liebeler.

Did Mr. Bouhe tell you anything about the circumstances under which Mr. Oswald went to Russia?

Mrs. Ford.

No; nothing like that was discussed.

Mr. Liebeler.

At the luncheon at which you and your husband, and Mr. and Mrs. Meller--

Mrs. Ford.

Yes.

Mr. Liebeler.

And Mr. Bouhe were present--

Mrs. Ford.

Yes.

Mr. Liebeler.

What was said at that time?

Mrs. Ford.

At the time we were present, actually, I was only interested in economic conditions of Russia at the moment, for me to compare them with the time I was living there, and they were showing some pictures of Minsk and Leningrad and some of the pictures of some of the friends of Marina's friends, girl friends.
(At this point, Representative Ford entered the hearing room.)

Mr. Liebeler.

Did you have any conversations with the Oswalds at that time about the kind of apartment that they had when they lived in Minsk?

Mrs. Ford.

I don't remember any particulars about that apartment, but they were talking about, I think, about the apartment, I don't know exactly what was said about it. I know it was, I think I remember they were saying they lived in one room and sharing a kitchen.

Mr. Liebeler.

Did they tell you how they came to meet each other in Russia and how they came to be married?

Mrs. Ford.

It wasn't said at that particular time, but I remember Marina was telling me afterwards how they came to meet each other, and I believe it was at a dance some place at the Hall of Culture or some place they would have in Russia dances, and she met him there.

Mr. Liebeler.

Of the people that were at this luncheon, aside from yourself, how many of them were originally born in Russia?