In Tarrant County, Oswald's Brother Sues Auctioneer, Funeral Home Over Lee's Coffin

By Robert Wilonsky Mon., Jan. 17 2011 at 4:09 PM

Inside the coffin of Lee Harvey Oswald

Remember when that L.A. auction house auctioned off the pine box in which Lee Harvey Oswald was buried on November 25, 1963, at the Shannon Rose Hill Funeral Chapel & Cemetery in Fort Worth? Man, seems like only six weeks ago. Since then, of course, the coffin sold -- for a whopping $87,468. But, see, Lee Harvey's brother -- one Robert Edward Lee Oswald of Wichita Falls -- is furious over the sale, so much so that on Friday in Tarrant County District Court he sued Nate Sanders (the auction house) and Baumgardner Funeral Home (which bought the original cemetery) in Fort Worth over the sale of not only the coffin, but other grisly remnants sold at auction (including Lee's death certificate, which went for close to $50,000).

Courthouse News has the full complaint, in which Robert Oswald says that, look, selling off his dead brother's casket was just wrong -- a violation that would be "highly objectionable to a reasonable person." So, yes, while he wants money -- the $160,000 raised at auction for all the items sold -- he also wants a judge and jury to acknowledge that, look, this was just ... just ... wrong: "The damages suffered by plaintiff as a result of the circulation of these confidential items far outweighs the market value brought at auction."

We Recommend

Andy

The sorry brother of the guy who "didn't kill JFK" (the guys in the grassy knoll did - the CIA & VP Johnson killed JFK) ...back to Oswald's brother ....who must be sufferring financially....found a closet rat AKA (the attorney) should have asked for the casket YEARS AGO....but as it seems....the losers in this world find the scum of the earth...."attornies" to do their bidding...alll because of money! Hey....stop the auction... and just RETURN THE PINE BOX TO OSWALD'S BROTHER. Maybe we should also give some cheese with that whine for Oswald's brother...or better yet...let's bury the attorney in it ...ha!

Broadwaylonnyj

I believe Mr. Oswald is correct. His family should get the money. How in the world can someone dig up your family member and sell their casket to the highest bidder. It is nothing short of disgusting.

Broadwaylonnyj

Mr. Oswald is correct. How in the world can someone dig up a family member and see their casket to the highest bidder? Not only is it wrong, but it's disgusting.

TheRealDirtyP1

the body was reinterred into another casket. This coffin was the leftover. What would you like done with it? Did his brother ask that it be destroyed at the time?

LoneGunman

I find it intriguing that this was sold shortly after Paul Groody's death. Was someone waiting him out? Also, I believe the evidence supports conspiracy rather than the "Lone Gunman" theory.

East Dallas Mark

Uhm, what happened to the body? I can't believe a law was not broken in the process of procuring the coffin and preparing it for auction ... Unless the coffin is a fake.

Paula

Now THAT is a POV shot!

ChuckE

Who PAID for the casket originally (probably the family). They should get the money.

Avi S. Adelman

From the same Courthouse News Service story...

In his 13-page complaint, Robert Oswald says that on Nov. 24, 1963 - the day Jack Ruby killed his brother on national TV in Dallas - he made arrangements for his brother's funeral with Miller's Funeral Home in Tarrant County.

Oswald says he "purchased a #31 Pine Bluff Casket from Miller's Funeral Home and Miller's Funeral Home agreed to prepare and care for the body of plaintiff's brother for interment and to conduct the funeral of plaintiff's brother at Miller's Funeral Home. In exchange, plaintiff paid Miller's the contract amount.

"Paul J. Groody was the director of Miller's Funeral Home and performed the embalming and preparation of the body of plaintiff's brother. Baumgardner assisted Groody in his work. After the funeral, plaintiff's brother was buried at Rose Hall Memorial Park in Fort Worth."

Robert

I don't think the Shannons owned Rose Hill when Oswald was originally buried there in '63 and they are not involved in this spat. They owned a funeral home at North Main & Northside Drive and Mrs. Shannon was FWISD school board president too. My parents knew them.

Just sayin. I'm not trying to act like the Wilonsky of Fort Worth here. I'm not nearly that smart.

Heywood U Buzzoff

Looks like Oswald had a reasonable assumption that the Shannon Rose Hill Funeral Chapel & Cemetery had owners and operators who were not scum bags. Too bad it appears that he assumed wrongly.