Mr. Shelley tells this to FBI on 18 March 1964.
I suspect Mr. Lovelady may indeed have been seated in the doorway as Pres. Kennedy was passing. His view, however, was suddenly obscured by the energetic waving of a flag by his co-worker, Mr. Lee Oswald. An irritated Mr. Lovelady rises to his feet to see over the flag.
This would explain the fact that a standing Mr. Lovelady is not evident in Towner
Apropos!
Consider for a moment the odd choice of nearly every occupant of the doorway to stand on its east side. It would have been perfectly easy to get a good view of the motorcade (and a better one, if one wished to see as much as possible of Pres. & Mrs. Kennedy on Houston and turning onto Elm) by standing on the west side.
And yet just about everyone
avoids standing on the west side.
I believe there is a simple explanation for this:
courtesy.
In the run-up to the motorcade's arrival in Dealey Plaza, Mr. Lovelady and perhaps one or two others were
sitting on the upper steps on the west side of the doorway. To take up a standing position in front of someone who is sitting is---rude.
Mr. Lovelady was in effect hogging most of the west side for himself---------
right up to the time of the motorcade's arrival.
Even Mrs. Madie Reese presses against the center railing out of consideration for the seated man behind her (look at her in Bell). And the black man in blue down by the western column stays in close to the column. Leaving Mr. Lovelady a decent vantage point looking out of the doorway.
A packed east side; a thinly peopled west side: easily explained by a laid-back Mr. Lovelady's decision to sit down and stay down.
And he only rose to his feet when his view of Pres. Kennedy was rudely blocked by a flag being waved energetically right in front of him. Had Mr. Oswald not spoiled his view like this, Mr. Lovelady would have watched the limousine pass by without bothering to take to his feet. Only the sound of gunfire several seconds later would have startled him out of his sedentary position.
