Next to Lee Harvey Oswald’s grave lies a man named Nick Beef. For years, tourists flocking to the Fort Worth, Texas site have wondered just who the heck is is and what he’s doing parked next to one of the most notorious names in American history.
Well, he’s actually alive. He lives in New York.
The New York Times reports that 56-year-old Nick Beef simply bought the plot in 1975 and had his name set in stone there in 1997. But why did he deliberately choose a spot next to JFK’s killer ?
Funny story. Actually not that funny, but interesting. Beef was born Patric Abedin, and was in the crowd (at age 6) when John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, rode through Fort Worth on their planned two-day tour. Sitting on the shoulders of a military policeman, Beef was merely feet away from the president’s motorcade.
But not on the day he was shot. That happened the next day. But it did inform Beef’s decision to buy the plot .
He used to visit Oswald’s grave with his mother, who would tell him to never forget that he saw JFK the day before he died. When he turned 18, he saw that the plot was up for grabs. He bought it for just $17.50 and 16 monthly payments of $10.
“It meant something to me in life,” Beef said of his decision to buy the plot.
He later changed his name from Patric Abedin to Nick Beef, a performance name he used while doing some freelance comedy.
Though he has the plot next to Oswald’s grave, he actually doesn’t have any plans to be buried there. He wants to be cremated.
