Where Did Prayer Woman Go After The Shooting?

[John Iacoletti]

Hi Everybody, I will try to identify as many people in this frame as I can going from the top down.

Those guesses are all well and good, but what are they based on? For example, why Molina and not Lovelady?

[Michael Welch]

Here are a few snips from “No More Silence” by Larry Sneed. This is from pages 70-71 in the section on Ruth Dean:

At lunch-time, one of the ladies in the office and I were going to lunch and were going to stop by the bank and make the deposits for the day. We just happened to be standing on the steps of the Texas School Book Depository when the parade came by. I was standing there with Madie Reese and Billy Lovelady and several other employees. I remember Billy being there because we were joking before the motorcade arrived. Lee Harvey Oswald was not there on the steps, as some people have claimed.


I remember seeing Jacqueline Kennedy climb over the back seat and on to the turtleback of the car, and the Secret Service man jumped up and made her get back into the car. That’s about the most vivid recollection I have of it. I was able to see that reasonably clearly from where I was standing, although when the President was hit, apparently I wasn’t able to see that because some of the tree trunks were at that point.


We continued to stand there because it was so quick when all three had been fired, and then we decided we needed to hurry on because the bank was going to be closing. So, we went on to the bank, made the deposit, had our lunch, and came back. But we did talk about it.


So, have both Ruth Dean and Maddie Reese been identified in the photographic record? Also, looking at the Altgens 6 photograph, it does appear to me that the tree trunk could have been in the way of them seeing the shot that hit JFK in the neck. And that they probably would have had a clear view of Clint Hill’s and Jackie’s encounter on the trunk lid.

Hi Charles, Here are Maddie Reese and Ruth Dean standing next to each other on the TSBD steps.



Maddie Reese is D. and Ruth Dean is C.
Sincerely yours, Michael

[Michael Welch]

Those guesses are all well and good, but what are they based on? For example, why Molina and not Lovelady?

Hi John, I hope this note finds you doing well. For Molina and not Lovelady, we have Lovelady and Shelley walking down to the railway yard ahead of this. Molina is dressed in a nice white shirt. Lovelady is dressed in a red plaid shirt. I was asked the same thing about Shelley being Molina back in 2013 because they had Molina labeled as Shelley and Shelley labeled as Molina, and I had to tell Colin Crow that Shelley is wearing the brown suit, so they changed the identifications.
Sincerely yours, Michael

[Charles Collins]

Hi Charles, Here are Maddie Reese and Ruth Dean standing next to each other on the TSBD steps.



Maddie Reese is D. and Ruth Dean is C.
Sincerely yours, Michael

Thanks Michael, that’s very helpful!

[John Iacoletti]

Hi John, I hope this note finds you doing well. For Molina and not Lovelady, we have Lovelady and Shelley walking down to the railway yard ahead of this. Molina is dressed in a nice white shirt. Lovelady is dressed in a red plaid shirt. I was asked the same thing about Shelley being Molina back in 2013 because they had Molina labeled as Shelley and Shelley labeled as Molina, and I had to tell Colin Crow that Shelley is wearing the brown suit, so they changed the identifications.
Sincerely yours, Michael

Ok, but that’s begging the question. You could just as easily say that can’t be Lovelady walking down the street because Lovelady is still on the steps. The Couch film is black and white so you can’t actually see a red shirt.

[Michael Welch]

Ok, but that’s begging the question. You could just as easily say that can’t be Lovelady walking down the street because Lovelady is still on the steps. The Couch film is black and white so you can’t actually see a red shirt.

Hi John, You can tell the difference in black and white film of a plaid shirt versus a white shirt versus a brown suit. Here is Altgens 6:



You can tell that Lovelady letter F is wearing a plaid shirt; you can tell that letter E Shelley is wearing a brown suit; and you can tell that Molina
letter A is wearing a white shirt. I cannot find them in Darnell. I am confident that they --- Shelley and Lovelady are walking together down the Elm Street Extension. If you can, please point them out in Darnell. Thank you for your reply like normal! Sincerely yours, Michael



In this Couch frame Shelley looks like he is wearing a brown suit not a black one. Lovelady you cannot make out the plaid, but it is not white.

[John Iacoletti]

In this Couch frame Shelley looks like he is wearing a brown suit not a black one. Lovelady you cannot make out the plaid, but it is not white.

That’s a pretty weak basis for assuming these two figures are Shelley and Lovelady, IMO.