Judyth Vary Baker

Judyth Vary Baker (née Judyth Anne Vary) is an American artist, writer and poet. Born May 15, 1943, in South Bend, Indiana, she first became known as a young prodigy in cancer research, then, later, for her assertion (in 1999) that while conducting cancer research in New Orleans, in the summer of 1963, she had a love affair with Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy.
Baker has been the subject of numerous magazine and newspaper articles, beginning with reports on her early achievements as a high school student in the physical and biological sciences, as well as the subject of widely available filmed interviews, documentaries, and books, notably Edward T. Haslam's Dr. Mary's Monkey (Trine Day Publishers, 2007). Witnesses to Judyth Baker's story have also been filmed, and interviews with researchers who have investigated her and now support her story are widely available on the Internet. , Her life story has also been published in journals and books, (the latest, Me & Lee by Trine Day, 2009). . A prior book was published by researcher and author Harrison E. Livingstone in 2004. Other writings where Baker is mentioned prominently include Interview with History, and The Radical Right and the Murder of John F. Kennedy. Baker has been the subject of journal articles published in 2004, 2007, and 2009. .

As a star science student, Judyth received advanced training in handling deadly cancer viruses at a famous cancer research center, Roswell Park Memorial Institute, before continuing her research briefly at St. Francis College (now St. Francis University). Later, while a student at The University of Florida, she was invited to work in New Orleans by Dr. Alton Ochsner, former president of the American Cancer Society. Once there, she became involved in a project which she states was created to develop a cancerous biological weapon, under the auspices of Ochsner's respected orthopedic surgeon and cancer research specialist Dr. Mary S. Sherman and with David Ferrie, with the intention to kill Fidel Castro. The CIA has admitted that at this time, many unusual attempts to assassinate Castro, related to what Baker has described, were attempted, such as creating a diving suit infected with fungus, and engineering exploding seashells. It was in New Orleans that Baker met Lee Harvey Oswald, with whom she also worked at the Reily Coffee Company, and with whom she states she later had an extramarital affair. Several witnesses, such as Anna Lewis, whose husband worked with Guy Banister, a former FBI agent long linked to Oswald, have supported Baker's statements about her affair with Oswald. Baker states that Lee Harvey Oswald gave technical and courier assistance to the get-Castro project, and eventually told her about an impending JFK assassination plot, fearing he was being set up to take the blame. Edward T. Haslam, the son of a doctor in New Orleans who knew Dr. Sherman, investigated the Mary Sherman-David Ferrie-Ochsner connections for over three decades, finally writing a book Mary, Ferrie, & the Monkey Virus in 1995 about the secret laboratory he discovered, later adding that he had been questioned by an imposter posing as Baker in New Orleans in 1972, which he reports, along with extensive new documentation about Baker, in his 2007 book, Dr. Mary's Monkey.
Baker kept silent about her relationship with Lee Oswald for 38 years after the JFK assassination, fearing retaliation from those she believed responsible for the death of President John F. Kennedy. However, after seeing the movie JFK by Oliver Stone, she mustered the courage to come forward with her story. Baker believes that Oswald was a deep-cover operative for the American government and that he penetrated the ring planning to assassinate JFK. Judyth's story is considered controversial by many, but there is no doubt, according the statistician Dr. John Williams, that her work with Oswald at the Reily Coffee Company was pre-arranged, with a 98% chance, as well, that Baker and Oswald knew each other well. Williams' statistical study was based on a number of events and correlating calendric dates that Baker and Oswald shared in New Orleans, such as being hired the same day by the same small sub-company (Standard Coffee), being transferred together a week later to the same branch of the parent company (Wm. B. Reily), the fact that Baker's supervisor ordered an ad to replace her the day Oswald was fired from Reily, that Baker's last day of work at Reily was the same day Oswald was arrested in New Orleans; that they rode the same bus, moved into their apartments the same week, moved to New Orleans the same week, could both speak Russian, that they left New Orleans the same month, and that witnesses have testified seeing the two together as "companions" and "lovers."
Early Life
Judyth Baker was born Judyth Anne Vary, the oldest child of Donald William and Glorianne W. Vary in 1943. She was seriously ill as a young child and was hospitalized for over a year with complications from a ruptured appendix and gangrene. The event gave her a deep interest in science and medicine. She attended St. Mary's School in Niles Michigan, Southside Jr. high School in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Manatee High School in Bradenton, Florida. When her beloved grandmother died of cancer in 1957, 14-year-old Baker decided to become a cancer researcher.
High School

Considered to have the highest IQ of her class, on October 17, 1958, she was introduced to Dr. Canute Michaelson, a high-ranking Norwegian geneticist and radiobiologist with CIA ties who had served as a double agent against Hitler. Michaelson's exploits as a spy fascinated her. He provided her with equipment, and contacts with Oak Ridge, after she indicated her interest in finding a cure for cancer. Her patriotic zeal was further enhanced in high school by friendships with retired military officers (especially her science instructor, Col. Phillip Doyle) and anti-Castro Cubans, including a close friendship with fellow student Tony Lopez-Fresquet, the oldest son of Castro's first finance minister,Rufo Lopez-Fresquet.
Research Activities

Her research, and its results, working from a high school laboratory, were soon noticed by professors and scientists with high profile connections in the medical and political world. This resulted in invitations to science programs and science fairs nationwide. In March, 1961, at age 17, she became the first high school student allowed to attend the elite Science Writer’s Cancer Research Seminar, a 5-day national meeting of science writers and the world’s most important cancer research scientists, where her research was inspected by top American Cancer Society (ACS) officials, research scientists, and Nobel Prize winners, who began mentoring her. At that time, she met the three doctors who are credited today with wakening ther world to the dangers of smoking: Dr. Harold Diehl (Sr. Vice president of the American Cancer Society at that time), Dr. George Moore (Director of Roswell Park Institute, the first hospital to ban smoking) and Dr. Alton Ochsner,of New Orleans' Ochsner Clinic. She was then invited by Director Dr. George Moore to work in his personal laboratory at Roswell Park Institute in Buffalo, New York, the oldest important cancer research center in the United States. There she conducted research on melanoma cancers and learned techniques for handling cancers induced by the Friend virus and the SV40 monkey virus. She next enrolled in the medical technology program at St. Francis College in her home state of Indiana, where she considered becoming a nun as well as a scientist. Assigned to work with malignant melanoma, at Dr. Alton Ochsner’s suggestion, one of the 18-year-old's research projects is preserved in an Indiana Academy of Science abstract entitled "Studies on the Increase in vitro of Mitotic Activity and Melanogenesis in the RPMI HA # 5 (7113) Strain Melano." (Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science. V. 71 (1961) p. 71): the abstract mentions that her cancer research was continuing at her lab at St. Francis.

Her work with melanoma and lung cancer in 1961 reflected Dr. Ochsner’s research interests: Ochsner’s work in 1961-1962 on melanoma was important enough to be recorded in his official biography.. Ochsner was the former ACS President (1952): his friends Dr. Harold S. Diehl (then current Vice President of the ACS, in charge of research) and Dr. George Moore testified with Ochsner in several courtcases about links between smoking and lung cancer. All three doctors were impressed that (Vary) Baker had induced lung cancer in mice in record time in a high school lab. Ochsner had served with both Harold Diehl, M.D. and “Wild Bill” Donovan (of OSS and CIA fame) on ACS boards. At this time, Ochsner was in weekly contact with both the AF’s Surgeon General and the US Surgeon General on the Surgeon General’s CIA-attended committee meetings... Ochsner's strong anti-communist viewpoint deeply impressed young Baker.
Evidence and Witnesses
Baker retained many items, such as paycheck stubs, bus tickets, letters, newspaper articles, and personal items, which have been closely inspected since 1999 by investigators in the JFK assasination case, such as Edward T. Haslam, Jim Marrs, Edgar Tatro, Nigel Turner, Wim Dankbaar, Martin Shackelford, Peter DeVries and Howard Liebengood, to name but a few -- who have concluded that she was telling the truth; her detractors point to Baker's waiting over three decades before speaking out, but typically have never met her. Baker's taped and filmed statements from living witnesses and/or their families, who have stated they saw Judyth Baker and Lee Oswald together and/or as lovers, provide additional evidence backing her statements. Heated debate on the veracity of Baker's story exists on in Internet newsgroups, especially regarding the idea that a bioweapon could have been developed outside a major laboratory, but Baker says she was chosen to work in the get-Castro project precisely because she was able to work with deadly cancers under more primitive conditions, having done so at her own high school. Even Baker's detractors concede her contemporaneous work with Oswald at Reily, and the fact that her husband was absent most of the summer of 1963, when Baker says she and Oswald had an affair.
Detailed information on Baker can be found at her official website (judythvarybaker.com) and at Edward T. Haslam's website (http://doctormarysmonkey.com).

Video testimony by longtime New Orleans resident, Anna Lewis,former wife of David Lewis, who once worked as a private invvestigator for Guy Banister (who stated Banister and Oswald knew each other). includes the statement that Baker "was Oswald's mistress" with additional details. The interview is available on Google video and at the website www.jfkmurdersolved.com, hosted by Dutch researcher Wim Dankbaar. Author Edward T. Haslam has been interviewed multiple times on TV, radio, and on the Internet, providing personal supporting evidence for Baker's story. Baker's sister states on film that she was told of the affair with Oswald in 1964. William "Mac" McCullough, formerly of New Orleans and a singer and bouncer for Mafia-run nightclubs, described Baker and Oswald as "companions" on audiotapes. The Charles Thomas family has verified that Baker met Charles Thomas, a former Customs agent, when she was introduced to him by Lee Harvey Oswald in June, 1963. Additionally, family members and friends insist Baker began speaking privately of her association with Oswald as early as 1980, some 19 years before she spoke out publicly.
Aftermath

After the JFK assassination Baker's promising career as a cancer researcher abruptly ended. Baker states she was told to keep a low profile and stay silent, if she wanted to stay alive.) Baker has stated that her goal is to exonerate Lee Harvey Oswald from the charge that he was the assassin of John F. Kennedy. Her stance has raised ire among some who are certain that Oswald acted alone in the November, 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy. Baker left the United States and later, the EU, in 2003-2004 after threats. She was threatened again while in Hungary in 2007, and fled to Sweden, where she entered the political asylum system in September, 2007, remaining there until July 15, 2008. She now lives outside the USA in undisclosed locations. Baker, an artist whose works are found in many European countries, Japan, and in the US and Canada, annually donates works of art to Swedish hospitals "to express her gratitude," and to various charities. She continues her work as an artist, writer and poet.. Baker's poetry can be found at SCRIBD, Poetry.com, at her blogs, and at Poets for Human Rights. In 1996, while earning an M.A. in Creative Writing and English at the University of Central Florida, Baker began to develop a new genre of literature ("The Literature of Denouement", or "Progression Literature"). Before she fled from the USA, Bsker had studied under famed black author Ernest Gaines; she had also taught English and Poetry at universities, colleges, and at high schools, and had published short stories and poetry in literary journals and newspapers. One of her oldest published short stories, "The Night I Lost My Second Brother" --written the night Martin Luther King died --is available at SCRIBD.

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