Post-Divorce Benbrook Residency and Return to Fort Worth
While the divorce was pending, Marguerite moved to a house at 3300 Willing Street, next to railroad tracks, signifying to John a return to lower-class circumstances. Lee was withdrawn from Clayton on March 18, 1948, and entered Clark Elementary School the next day, completing second grade with mostly B’s and A’s. A classmate, Philip Vinson, described Lee as a quiet, stocky, well-built boy who was a gang leader but not a bully. After the divorce, Mrs. Oswald purchased a small Benbrook house on San Saba Street with one bedroom, where Lee slept with his mother. She worked at a department store, a neighbor reported Lee resented discipline, and another witnessed Lee chase John with a knife, which their mother dismissed. The property was appraised at $2,750 and sold to neighbor Carlton at that price.
Lee’s Fort Worth Schooling and Childhood Personality
After the Benbrook house was sold, the family returned to Fort Worth due to employment, purchasing a two-bedroom frame house at 7408 Ewing, from which Robert and Lee could walk to school. John, then 16, took a job as a shoe stockboy, giving his mother $15 of his $25 weekly salary. Lee entered third grade at Arlington Heights Elementary, completing the year with A’s in social studies, citizenship, science, art, and music, and a D in spelling. He transferred in September 1949 to Ridglea West Elementary, where he remained for three years, receiving mostly B’s and some C’s, with D’s in spelling and arithmetic, and C’s in Spanish, which contributed to his later familiarity with the language. His fourth-grade IQ was 103, and he did best in reading and worst in spelling on achievement tests. Teachers and neighbors characterized him as a lonely, quiet, shy, and rather solitary boy who returned home alone, read a lot, had a stamp collection, and played chess and Monopoly, though Richard Garrett found him easy to get along with and Hiram Conway considered him intelligent but quick to anger.
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