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J.D. Tippit’s Widow: “I Just Don’t Know What We Are Going to Do”

Nov. 24, 1963 - Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy is the focus of sympathy today, but another woman also weeps for the man she has lost. She is Mrs. Marie Tippit, whose 39-year-old husband, Patrolman J.D. Tippit, was slain by Lee Harvey Oswald shortly after President Kennedy’s assassination Friday. The police say Oswald might have escaped capture if Patrolman Tippit had not intercepted him. “I just don’t know what we are going to do,” Mrs. Tippit said, her eyes swollen with tears, as she sat in her neat, three-bedroom Dallas home. She is the mother of three children, Brenda Kay, 10, Curtis Ray, 4, and Allen, 13. “I depended on my husband so much,” she continued. “He spent all his extra time with us, and the family just got used to him making all the necessary decisions. The problem of raising three children suddenly seems too great. Older children need a father’s guidance.” Despite the tragedy that struck the White House, those most deeply involved have found time to let Mrs. Tippit know that she is not forgotten in her sorrow. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy telephoned to express the sympathy that the President’s widow feels for Mrs. Tippit. In return, Mrs. Tippit told him “to express my concern to Mrs. Kennedy and tell her I certainly know how she feels.” Another call came from President Johnson, who took time in the midst of a historic governmental transition to remember the policeman’s widow.


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