December 2, 2002
Former BGCT treasurer lauded for
valuable stash of rare JFK photos
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___DALLAS--For more than three and a half decades, the retired treasurer of the Baptist General Convention of Texas possessed a historical treasure he didn't even recognize.
___Jay Skaggs, who served 26 years on the BGCT financial management staff, including 19 as treasurer, shot one roll of slide film in downtown Dallas Nov. 22, 1963. He never had been particularly impressed with his photos from that fateful day, and he had shared them only with close family.
___But when he and his wife decided to make their first visit to the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, Skaggs brought along his slides and a series of prints made from them.
___The museum curator told Skaggs he had the last known still image of President John F. Kennedy taken prior to his assassination, as well as one-of-a-kind color photos taken inside the perimeter of the crime scene investigation at the Texas School Book Depository.
THIS PHOTO by Jay Skaggs is believed to be the last image of President Kennedy recorded before his death. The photo was taken from the corner of Main and Houston in Dallas, as the president's motorcade passed by on Houston before turning into Dealey Plaza. (Photo by Jay Skaggs/Copyright Sixth Floor Museum)
___Those rare images are part of an exhibit that opened Nov. 22 at the Sixth Floor Museum.
___Skaggs was working as business administrator at Cliff Temple Baptist Church in 1963. He went to downtown Dallas for the presidential parade at the prodding of his teenage daughter, who was granted an excused absence from Adamson High School in Oak Cliff to attend the special event.
___He and his family arrived early, parked their car not far from the School Book Depository, and then walked to the corner of Main and Houston. Skaggs, with the characteristic precision of an accountant, had studied the parade route to determine the best place to get photographs.
___"I knew they had to make a turn onto Houston Street, and I thought the car might slow down enough that I could get a good picture," Skaggs recalled. "But when the president's car made the turn, he was looking the other direction."
___Skaggs yelled, trying to attract the president's attention, but Kennedy never turned around. Giving up on capturing the image he wanted, Skaggs instead snapped a photo picturing the back of Kennedy's head, a profile of the First Lady, and a slightly obscured view of Gov. John Connally and his wife, Nellie, turned partly away from the camera.
___Skaggs took a photo of the press bus that followed the presidential convertible. Then he heard the first gunshot.
___"I thought it was a firecracker--somebody just being stupid. Then I heard a second shot and a third one, and I knew it was a rifle," Skaggs said.
___Telling his wife and daughter to stay where they were, Skaggs crossed the street, dashing between cars. He snapped a photo of the assassination scene on Elm Street, about one minute after the last shot was fired.
___In the next block, he talked with--and photographed--Charles Brehm, an eyewitness to the shooting. Moving up to the railroad track overlooking the plaza, Skaggs continued to take photos. In the process, he met and photographed Clyde Haygood, the Dallas motorcycle officer who was the first policeman to investigate the grassy knoll area after the shooting.
___When Skaggs learned that the School Book Depository was the suspected site from which the sniper fired, he hurried to that building. There, he took photos of crime lab investigator Carl Day carrying out the rifle that ultimately was linked to Lee Harvey Oswald.
THIS PHOTO by Jay Skaggs shows Dallas Police crime lab investigator Carl Day carrying the suspect rifle from the Texas School Book Depository shortly after the shooting. (Photo by Jay Skaggs/Copyright Sixth Floor Museum)
___By that time, police officers had cordoned off the crime scene, but Skaggs was inside the secured area. At one point, a fellow member of Cliff Temple Baptist Church, attorney Jerry Gilmore, spotted him and yelled, "Skaggs, what are you doing in there?"
___"I just ignored him. I learned a long time ago, if you act like you are supposed to be somewhere, nobody will question whether you belong," Skaggs said.
___While at the School Book Depository, Skaggs heard on a police officer's handheld radio the report from Parkland Hospital. President Kennedy was dead.
___He had one roll of film in his camera. He shot all the photos, had the slides processed, and then put them away. For years, only his immediate family knew they existed. Like many Dallas residents at the time, he wanted to put the events of that day behind him.
___"That was a tragic time for Dallas," Skaggs said.
___Many years later, Skaggs' daughter asked to borrow the slides, and she had prints made from the originals. Skaggs framed a few images, taping the original slides to the back of the frames.
___Last year, Skaggs returned to Dealey Plaza for only the second time in 38 years. He presented his slides and the prints made from them to the Sixth Floor Museum.
___Ironically, Curator Gary Mack knew the photographs probably existed, but he never realistically expected to see them. Three years ago, the Sixth Floor Museum received a film on loan from the Robert Hughes family. That footage showed a man with a camera on the corner of Main and Houston.
___"It's been kind of a joke among the staff here: 'Wouldn't it be great if somebody walked in here one day with a shoebox full of pictures from that location?' And that's exactly what happened," Mack said.
___In the intervening months, the curator matched the slides and prints, reviewing each image to identify it, and preparing the exhibit that opened recently. He discovered that one slide was missing--the image of President Kennedy that Skaggs took on the corner of Main and Houston.
___Skaggs has not discovered the missing slide yet. And he's not in any hurry to locate it.
___"When I retired from the Baptist Building, my wife and I decided to travel. We visited all 50 states and Nova Scotia, and I have slides from all our travels. I have over 8,000 slides that nobody is interested in seeing," he said. "Gary Mack wants me to go through all of them to find that one missing slide."
___Skaggs' donation to the museum captured national attention, rating a mention on NBC's "Today" show and articles on news wire services. A filmmaker in California also has contacted Skaggs regarding a documentary he is making for the Discovery Channel on the photographers of Dealey Plaza.
___But Skaggs takes it all in stride. "When you're nearly 83 years old, you don't get too excited about this kind of thing anymore," he said.
___
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