James Robert Leavelle died, Thursday, Aug. 29, after a fall at his younger daughter's home in Colorado, where the family, including his three grandchildren and great grandson were celebrating his 99th birthday.

Jim Leavelle was born in Bogata, Texas, in Red River County, on August 23, 1920. He was the second youngest of the six sons of Robert Leavelle and Edna Woolsey. He left school, where he played football and was a tennis champion, to work for the Civilian Conservation Corps for two years. He then returned to high school and graduated before entering the Navy at age 20. He was aboard the USS Whitney at Pearl Harbor during the infamous attack in Dec. 1941. Shortly thereafter he suffered a non-combat injury that sent him to a military hospital in Corona, California, where he met Lt. Taimi Trast, a Navy nurse. They married the following year and lived for several years in California and Arizona.

The couple moved to Dallas in the late 1940s where Leavelle became a police officer, rising though the ranks to homicide detective, a role that thrust him into the national consciousness. When Dallas Police Officer J.D. Tippit was fatally shot less than an hour after President Kennedy was assassinated, Leavelle was assigned the case and interviewed Lee Harvey Oswald, the suspect in Tippit's murder. Once Oswald became the prime suspect in Kennedy's killing, federal authorities took custody of Oswald. Leavelle was assigned to escort Oswald through the basement of the Dallas police building in what was to be a transfer to the county jail. But nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot Oswald, an assassination that was captured in Dallas Times Herald photographer Bob Jackson's photograph that is one of the most famous in American history. Leavelle's stunned look could be said to reflect the reaction of many Americans. Leavelle retired from the police department in 1975 and then operated a polygraph business for several years and was a courier for the Federal Reserve Bank.

Leavelle spoke often to individuals, groups and news organizations about the Kennedy assassination and remained adamant that Oswald acted alone. He was the impetus for a Military Channel documentary "Capturing Oswald," which was created, written and co-produced by his granddaughter Kate Griendling.

More than the events of 1963, he was most proud of his career as a police officer.  Until the very end, Jim was willing to travel nationally and internationally, whether to attend WWII veterans' events or visit his vast network of family members spanning several generations. He loved to tell stories about his childhood adventures and challenges, the events of 1963 and everything in between.

Jim and Taimi raised three children, James Craig, who died in 2010, and two daughters, Tanya Evers and Karla Leavelle, who survive him, as do his granddaughters Kate Griendling and Hunter Griendling, his grandson Zack Griendling, and his great grandson Revel James McMillen, born last year and named after Leavelle. Taimi, his wife of 72 years, died in 2014.

Funeral Services for Mr. Leavelle will be held at New Liberty Baptist Church, in Garland, Texas on Saturday, September 7, 2019 at 1:00 PM, a Graveside Service will follow at Grove Hill Cemetery in Dallas, with visitation the evening before at Williams Funeral Directors from 5:00 to 8:00 PM.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Honor Flight Network at www.HonorFlight.org.