Ken DuVall Oral History

Mr. DuVall contacted the Museum in April 2009 and volunteered for an oral history. His memories of seeing Lee Harvey Oswald inside the Texas School Book Depository have generated some research interest over the years. However, this interview is a good example of how memories can often be unreliable, particularly after nearly half a century. Mr. DuVall worked for Central Motor Freight Lines from 1954 to 1982, after which he started his own charter bus company, Dalworth Charter and Tours. When recalling the events of the assassination weekend in 1963, he clearly became confused. While Mr. DuVall recalls driving a Central Motor Freight truck to the Depository on the day of the assassination, he was adamant that he was driving "a busload of people" on one of his charter tours just two days later when Oswald was shot in the basement of Dallas police headquarters. It is possible that he was instead remembering a bus tour from twenty or more years after the assassination, which may have passed by the former Dallas Municipal Building as part of a city tour. I tried to mention this during the interview, but he was firm in his recollections.

Mr. DuVall passed away on August 19, 2018. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator