Ruth Hyde Paine (born September 3, 1932) is [citation needed] a former friend of Marina Oswald, who was living with her at the time of the JFK assassination.
According to official government investigations,[1] including the Warren Commission, Lee Harvey Oswald stored the 6.5 mm caliber Carcano rifle used to shoot U.S. President John F. Kennedy in Ruth Paine's garage, unbeknownst to her and her husband, Michael Paine.
[citation needed] Paine was born Ruth Avery Hyde in New York City to William A. and Carol E.
In the late 1950s, she participated in Quaker pen pal programs and the East-West Contact Committee, which sponsored visits by three Soviets to the US.
At the suggestion of a neighbor, Linnie Mae Randle, Ruth Paine told Lee Oswald about a job opportunity at the Texas School Book Depository.
"[30] Paine has been interviewed by several authors, including Priscilla Johnson McMillan, William Manchester, Thomas Mallon, and Gerald Posner.
When Marina testified in the Shaw trial, she said she had been "advised by the Secret Service not to be connected with (Ruth Paine)...She was sympathizing with the CIA.
"[31] Ruth wrote to Marina incessantly, with letters that took an almost desperate tone, but received no response except for a Christmas card.
The City of Irving bought the former Paine home on W. 5th St. in 2009 to restore it to its 1963 condition and turn it into a museum in time for the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination on November 22, 2013.
[13] Author and researcher Sylvia Meagher wrote: Ruth Paine...is a complex personality, despite her rather passive façade...Some examples from her testimony show a predisposition against Oswald and a real or pretended friendliness toward the FBI and other Establishment institutions, which should not be overlooked in evaluating her role in the case...Mrs. Paine is sometimes a devious person, and her testimony must be evaluated in that light.
[33]Paine has expressed her belief in the official conclusion that Oswald acted alone and has denied conspiracy theorists' suggestions to connect her and Michael to their relatives and ancestors holding important government and business positions, such as her sister, Sylvia Hyde Hoke, being listed as an employee of CIA .
[34] In Oliver Stone's JFK, the Paines are depicted as the highly suspect Bill and Janet Williams, played by Gary Carter and Gail Cronauer.
(The name Janet Williams was used again in the 1993 TV movie Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald, in which Quenby Bakke played the role.)