Ruth Hyde Paine passed away on August 31, 2025, just shy of her 93rd birthday. If you are not familiar with her name, don’t be surprised. Only those who are JFK assassination buffs would recognize it. In the 62 years since the assassination, she has become a footnote in history, a minor character in the tragedy surrounding Dallas, Texas and November 22, 1963. She is one of those people that give rise to speculation as to whether history would be different if they had acted differently or not acted at all.
Born on September 3, 1932, in New York City, Ruth attended Antioch College in Ohio and became a Quaker. When her husband, Michael Paine, got a job in Fort Worth at Bell Helicopter in the early 1960s, she moved to Texas and bought a house in Irving, a suburb of Dallas. Although she and Michael were estranged and living apart in 1963, they had an amicable relationship, and they continued to socialize for the sake of their children.
In February 1963, Ruth met Lee and Marina Oswald, a couple who had just returned from the Soviet Union. Ruth befriended the Russian-born Marina, who spoke no English, and her American husband, a former U.S. Marine, who also spoke Russian, in hopes of improving her language skills.
In May of 1963, Ruth drove Marina to Lee’s hometown of New Orleans, where he was looking for work, not having been able to find work in the Dallas area. Because Marina’s situation in New Orleans was so meager, in September of 1963, Ruth, who stayed in contact with Marina by mail, volunteered to pick up the now-pregnant Marina and her child and return them to Dallas and let them live with her. Ruth had made a road trip east in the fall of 1963, so it was convenient to stop in New Orleans on her turn to Dallas.
Later that fall, Lee Oswald returned to Dallas and was living under an assumed name in a boarding house in Dallas. He would visit his wife and child on weekends and stay at Ruth’s home.
Marina Oswald was hardly an ideal house guest. She slept late every morning, did not do a lot to help around the house and paid no rent. From time to time, when Lee joined the household for dinner, he would complain about the meal Ruth had prepared and demand that Marina cook him something else to eat.
When Marina went into labor for the birth of her second child on October 20, 1963, Ruth drove her to the hospital. Lee, who did not own a car and never learned to drive, happened to be in Irving that weekend. He stayed at home, likely because he had no money to pay for Marina’s care. When Ruth returned home from the hospital later that evening, he never came out of his bedroom to ask about Marina or the new baby.
But Ruth, the faithful friend, put up with them, feeling that they were helping her with her Russian language skills. She felt sorry for Marina, knowing that Lee was often abusive, and that Marina had no other support systems.
At the suggestion of a neighbor, Ruth told Lee about a job opportunity at the Texas School Book Depository and even made a call to help set up an interview. That act of kindness would give JFK assassination conspiracy buffs fodder for years to come.
On Thursday, November 21, 1963, Lee arrived at Ruth’s house unannounced. His usual routine was to arrive on Friday evenings and spend the weekend. So his Thursday night arrival was unusual. Unbeknownst to Ruth, Oswald had stored a 6.5 mm Mannlicher Carcano rifle in her garage.
When Lee left for work on November 22, 1963, leaving his wedding ring and most of his cash, he carried a large package with him. He told Buell Frazier, the friend and neighbor who drove him to work, that the package contained curtain rods. No curtain rods were found at the Book Depository and there were no curtain rods missing from Ruth’s garage.
Over the last 62 years, I have read more than my share of accounts of the assassination, particularly when I worked as a research assistant for Judge Burt Griffin in writing his book about the assassination and his experiences on the Warren Commission Staff, JFK, Oswald and Ruby – Politics, Prejudice and Truth (McFarland & Co., 2023). Ruth Paine has always been a person of particular interest.
What if Ruth, an avowed pacifist, had found the rifle stored in her garage before November 22, 1963? What if she had tired of Marina and Lee’s antics and asked them to move?
She answered more than 5,000 questions before the Warren Commission. The other 500 witnesses who testified before the Commission answered an average of 300 questions. Over the years, she has been interviewed by every major writer who has written about the assassination. Except for a few secret service agents and Marina Oswald, who is still alive at age 84, Ruth Paine was one of the last people alive with a direct connection to the assassination and its key players.
She plays a key role in The Truth Is Our Only Client, a 2020 documentary about the Warren Commission produced and directed by Clevelander Todd Kwait. Common Pleas Court Judge Brendan Sheehan and I got a chance to meet her at the premiere of the documentary on November 17, 2020.
After the assassination, Marina Oswald and Lee’s mother Marguerite stayed with Ruth briefly. Ruth found out that Marina knew the rifle was in the garage. When Marina was taken into Secret Service custody, Ruth spoke to her on one occasion. They have had no contact over the last 62 years.
In gratitude for her kindness, Ruth Paine was grilled by the FBI and Secret Service at the time of the assassination. She has been accused by conspiracy theorists of ever kind of evil deed, including working for the CIA, working for the Russian government, helping to plan the assassination and having a homosexual relationship with Marina. To her credit, over the years, her story has never differed. It was her firm belief that Lee Harvey Oswald killed the President and that he acted alone — the same conclusion as the Warren Commission and every other credible researcher who have studied the death of the President.
Sometimes in history, people happen to be at a place in time when, through no fault of their own, and often out of the goodness of their heart, they end up being a cog in the wheel of history. Such was the fate of Ruth Paine. If there was ever an example of the adage, “no good deed goes unpunished,” Ruth Paine would be the poster child.
Ruth Paine’s house, located at 2515 West 5th Street, Irving, Texas, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and was purchased by the City of Irving in 2009. It has been restored to the way is looked in 1963 and opened to the public in 2013 for tours.
For Further Reading:
Mrs. Paine’s Garage: And the Murder of John F. Kennedy (Mariner Press – 2003)
Link to the Documentary: The Truth is Our Only Client.
truth-is-the-only-client-the-official-investigation-of-the-murder-of-john-f-kennedy
C. Ellen Connally is a retired judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court. From 2010 to 2014 she served as the President of the Cuyahoga County Council. An avid reader and student of American history, she is a former member of the Board of the Ohio History Connection, and past president of the Cleveland Civil War Round Table, and is currently vice president of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers and Sailors Monument Commission. She holds degrees from BGSU, CSU and is all but dissertation for a PhD from the University of Akron.
One Response to “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Ruth Paine and the JFK Assassination by C. Ellen Connally”
Laura Kennelly
Thank you for this account. It all makes sense