Photo by David Lee Simmons

Lee Harvey Oswald and his family lived in several locations in New Orleans, including Exchange Alley in the French Quarter.

Dear Dave,
Just about everything about Oswald's life is as well known as possible. There is one thing for certain about his childhood: It was anything but stable. He lived in many different places in his short life, but Prytania Street was not one of them.

Born on Oct. 18, 1939, he was the son of Marguerite and Robert Oswald Sr., who died of a heart attack two months before Lee's birth. Marguerite was left alone to care for him, his brother Robert, age 7, and half-brother John Pic, age 10 -- a son from a previous marriage.

Marguerite took the baby home to Alvar Street, but soon she rented out this house and moved her family to a smaller one on Congress Street. Then she sold the house on Alvar Street and bought a smaller one at 1010 Bartholomew St. This house was also sold, and they moved to 831 Pauline St.

At the age of 3, Lee was sent to live with his brothers, who had been placed in the Bethlehem Children's Home, a residence for children with only one or no parents. Then in June 1944, she took Lee out of the orphanage and moved to Dallas with her new husband, Edwin Ekdahl. The older boys soon followed. Ekdahl was a good stepfather and took Lee and Marguerite with him on his business trips.

Robert and John were sent to a military school in Mississippi, and the family settled into a home in Benbrook, a suburb of Fort Worth, Texas. Lee entered the first grade in the fall of 1945. His mother's marriage didn't last, and she was divorced in June 1948.

Marguerite took the boys out of the military school, and they moved frequently from place to place in Fort Worth. They moved briefly to Covington and then returned to Fort Worth. By the time Lee was 9, he had attended four different schools.

The next move came when Lee was 12, and his mother moved them to New York City. John had joined the Coast Guard and Robert the Marines. Lee and Marguerite lived in several different apartments in the Bronx.

Lee was enrolled in school but rarely went. Instead he spent his days in the public library, riding the subway and visiting the Bronx Zoo. A truant officer found him there, and Lee was sent to a youth detention center for three weeks of evaluation.

Again Lee was enrolled in school, but once again the truant office was after him. Marguerite and Lee fled back to New Orleans and moved in with Lillian, Marguerite's sister, at 757 French St. Lee began school in 1954 at Beauregard Junior High School. Then they moved again to an apartment on St. Mary Street and then to 126 Exchange Alley in the French Quarter.

In September 1955, Lee began the 10th grade at Warren Easton High School but dropped out in October. He tried to join the Marines, but was rejected as too young. Instead, he got a job as an office boy, bought a rifle and tried to join the Communist Party.

Marguerite moved them back to Fort Worth and again enrolled Lee in high school. By then, however, Lee had turned 17 and joined the Marines in 1956.

Oswald returned to New Orleans only twice after that. Once was in 1957 when he was on his way to Russia, where he applied for citizenship, celebrated his 20th and 21st birthdays and married Marina Prusakova.

The second time was after he, Marina and their daughter had returned to America. They had been living in Dallas and Fort Worth, when on April 24, 1963, Lee returned to New Orleans alone. His wife and child joined him later, and they lived on Magazine Street.

Oswald left New Orleans for the last time on Sept. 25, 1963. Within two months, he had murdered a president and was dead himself, gunned down by Jack Ruby.