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I was told by Billings, "Nothing ever goes directly to Ethel." ', Roommates: JFK and Billings (right) roomed atChoate and again atPrinceton (pictured mid-1930s outside a drugstore with roommate Ralph Horton Jr), JFK's sisterEunice Kennedy Shriver said his relationship with Billingswas a 'complete liberation of the spirit' for Jack (Pictured on their Christmas card with fellow Princeton roommateRalph Horton Jr), While her husband had his qualms about Billings and couldn't stand to have him around, the matriarch Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, had a different take. He thought 11:10 EDT 13 Oct 2015 . In his second year at Millbrook, Bobby began boasting that he was doing certain drugs intravenously - shooting up, like any street junkie. Yesterday was Jack's birthday. the Navy, as described more fully in the separate Wikipedia biography of John Just a week after his father's funeral, at his brother David's thirteenth birthday party at a grim Hickory Hill, Bobby had spiked everyone's milk with a laxative. President John F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas 50 years ago, leaving behind a mourning nation and his gay best friend, Lem Billings. Miss Bouvier is a destination. Ambassador to France under JFK, were hauled into juvenile court in the town of Barnstable on Cape Cod on charges of marijuana possession. "And we could have made a very different choice. Cherrydale? He had his own room in the White House and advised Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in her redecoration of the White House. 121 likes. Ethel Kennedy issued the requisite concerned parent statement, calling Bobby a 'fine boy, and we have always been proud of him. " Bayard says of Billings. "They make fun of my voice. When their brother Bobby married Ethel Skakel in a royal-like wedding in Greenwich, Connecticut, the staunchly conservative republican and seemingly homophobic Skakels let their feelings about Billings' gayness be known. Born 15 Apr 1916 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States. I shoot him a look, and he saysimagine the offhandednessthat we have an additional passenger. Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings was a bumbling giant, the offspring of a prominent but cash-poor Protestant family. After Kennedys election Billings would frequently be an overnight guest, which supposedly upset the First Lady, Jackie Kennedy. Jackie was reportedly upset that her husband spent so much time with Billings and that he often spent the night at the White House. Funeral homes; Help and advice. A funny photo of Senator John McCain catching himself after he nearly left the stage in the wrong direction after shaking hands with Senator Barack Obama. But that's the kind of kid he was, deep into bad stuff.'. Copyright 2023 Irish Studio LLC All rights reserved. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. There is nothing, in short, about a "Miss Bouvier" to separate her from her predecessors. 16. Although Mr. Billings never served the President in an official capacity, he was a frequent guest at the White House. Anyone can read what you share. In her memoir, Times To Remember, published eleven years after Jack's assassination in Dallas in 1963, she wrote that Billings had "remained Jack's lifelong close friend, confidant, sharer in old memories and new experiences", He has really been part of "our family" since that first time he showed up at our house as one of "Jack's surprises. According to Quirk, Billings revealed that his friendship with the future president of the United States "included oral sex, with Jack always on the receiving end. It's the weekend before St. Patrick's Day, 1952, and there's still a late-winter nip in the Virginia air, but Jack always keeps the top down because, by age thirty-four, he knows how dashing his hair looks in high wind. book review of Jack and Lem, The New Haven Register interviewed the author and Kirk LeMoyne Lem Billings (April 15, 1916 May 28, 1981) was a close friend of President John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy family. Published in The Elkhart Truth from Feb. 20 to Feb. 21, 2023. 'He seemed a very pleasant fellow,' said Bontecou, a classmate of Bobby's. During the night of May 28, 1981almost two decades after JFK's untimely death - 65-year-old Lem Billings died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack. ', By Heide Knop. ', Hejduk also immediately perceived that the relationship between Bobby and Billings 'was probably one of those unrequited-love kind of things.'. 7:44 PM. At Pomfret, he also ignored most of the white kids and hung out with a small group of black students who were part of a program to help underprivileged boys from the mean streets of New York City, some of them gang members. a commission in the U.S. The book is set in 1981, in New York City, where Jackie has settled after becoming the Widow Onassis and joining the working world. But was reportedly upset that her husband spent so much time with him, and that he often stayed overnight at the White House. After the assassination of RFK in 1968, the flamboyant Billings transferred his obsessive affection for Jack, to handsome teenager Bobby Jr. David Pitts, the author of "Jack and Lem: The Untold Story of an Extraordinary Friendship," told me, "Lem was a gay man and he had a 14-year-old, good-looking kid living in his house with him and there had been rumors because of that. And now that we've crossed into Virginia, the only thing left to figure out is where she might live. Lem Billings. Lem's father died in 1933 placing additional strain on the family's Once again, Ethel Kennedy made just one appearance at the school, accompanied by Lem Billings, when Bobby was admitted, and 'everything had to go through Billings,' said Warren Geissinger, Bobby's Pomfret advisor, looking back years later. For all I know, she's speculating about the Washington Senators' pennant chances. Lem married Rolla Jean Auer on September 17, 1950. Jack Kennedy and Lem Billings met at Choate and remained friends until the Dallas gunfire that ended Kennedy's life thirty years later. Billings Funeral Home - Woodward Add Photos Add a Memory Henry Leroy Ray Henry Leroy Ray Woodward - Henry was born June 11,1955 in Amarillo TX. By clicking on a service below, you can view the obituary and service details, leave a condolence, send flowers, and if requested by the family attend a service live with remote attendance or view the service at a later time. Ancestors. The Kennedys tolerated his homosexuality, which was considered taboo at the time, Lawrence J. Quirk, the author of'The Kennedys in Hollywood' said Billings and JFK's relationship turned sexual at a point. The one iconic photo of President John F. Kennedy up close and personal with a woman other than Jackie shows him and his attorney general brother, Robert, coming on to curvaceous Marilyn Monroe at a party, reports Daily Mail. An intimate of Billings, writer Lawrence J. Quirk, claimed that Billings, whom he met in 1946 when both worked in Jack Kennedy's first congressional campaign, had confided to him that their relationship did, in fact, involve sex acts 'a friendship that included oral sex, with Jack always on the receiving end. "At one point he was sent by Jack to give Jackie the low-down about what she could expect once they were married. Jack's best friend was Lem, and he would want to remind everyone of that today. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., David Kenne. During the night of May 28, 1981almost two decades after JFK's untimely death - 65-year-old Lem Billings died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack. Jack and Lem explores the enduring friendship between John F. Kennedy and Kirk Lemoyne Billings (aka "Lem"). Their very intimate relationship would last from those school days to Billings even having a room in the Kennedy White House distressing for the first lady to the day of Kennedy's assassination. , In office January 20, 1961 November 22, 1963. ", Bayard learned something else about Jackie during his research. Writer Gore Vidal once called Billings the chief f****t at Camelot and said Kennedy felt quite comfortable in the company of homosexuals as long as they were smart enough to hold his interest.. He noted that everywhere Jack went, Billings was sure to follow, like a puppy dog. The Cold War was still raging, and there was fear Russian agents might use the friendship against Kennedy. Even when Bobby was invited to weekend lunches at the Bontecou estate, it was Billings who accompanied him. The business was started in 1956 by Robert G. Michelotti and John F. Sawyers. He was by all accounts JFK's best. By clicking on a service below, you can view the obituary and service details, leave a condolence, send flowers, and if requested by the family attend a service live with remote attendance or view the . 'We had a couple of calls from Jackie - "How's my nephew doing?" Billings, LeMoyne Date (s) of Materials: 11 February 1942-31 December 1946 Folder Description: This folder contains letters to John F. Kennedy from his friend Kirk Lemoyne (Lem) Billings on subjects such as Kennedy's health, Kennedy's Naval service, and the Pacific Ocean Theater of World War II. "People think I'm a joke," he once acknowledged. It was Bobby Kennedy Jr. who gave the eulogy. Advocate Contributors November 22 2013 4:00 AM EST In photos. While the photo of Kennedy cozying up to Monroe is the best known of him with one of his purported lovers, other far less public snapshots show the flip side of Kennedy's intimate relationships. But it also looks at her through this particular prism of another outsider, Lem Billings. Doesn't she hear the car's tires on the gravel? Bobby had believed Billings' every word. was running for President. "He also reveals that there was this crucial moment," says Bayard. Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom was unable to personally travel to Kennedy's funeral because of her pregnancy with Prince Edward but later described "the unprecedented intensity of that wave of grief, mixed with something akin to despair, which swept over our people at the news of President Kennedy's Jacqueline Bouvier and U.S. Representative John F. Kennedy belonged to the same social circle and were formally introduced by a mutual friend, journalist Charles L. Bartlett, at a dinner party in May 1952. The Brodes friends included a number of gay men, among them such openly gay politicians as Barney Frank and Gerry Stuuds. One of the most credible accounts of the Kennedy-Billings relationship was told by David Pitts, who I interviewed extensively for my book, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.And The Dark Side Of The Dream, because the strapping, bespectacled Billings, with a high-pitched, effeminate voice, would later become the fawning surrogate father and fellow drug user of JFK's nephew, Bobby Kennedy Jr., with whom Billings also had intense romantic feelings. As Billings' biographer David Pitts told me, "Once JFK decided that Billings was his best friend - like it or leave, everybody in the family sort of fell in line with that. RFK's assassination had naturally devastated his 40-year-old wife, Ethel, who was pregnant with her eleventh child. Senator Edward M. Kennedy will speak at a memorial service tomorrow morning at 10 A.M. at the Church of the Heavenly Rest, 90th Street and Fifth Avenue. Lem Chesmore is a 34-year-old Billings native who grew up on the sport of boxing, first competing in 1980 at the Boys and Girls Club located on South 28th Street. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. The biographer Sally Bedell Smith, referred to Billings in one of her books as "probably the saddest of the Kennedy widows.". JAMIE RICHARDSON: John F. Kennedy had no shortage of people who considered themselves friends of the 35th president. The prestigious Kennedy name practically ruled the institution. During the night of May 28, 1981almost two decades after JFK's untimely death 65-year-old Lem Billings died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack. While Billings' missive is long gone, a startled Kennedy responded, "Please don't write to me on toilet paper anymore. Hidden away high up on a bookshelf was a small bronze bust of his father. Irelands most popular baby names of 2022 - by county! Billings had once told Bobby that when he died he wanted the pall-bearers to be members of Bobby's circle of young friends, whom he knew well and with whom he had done drugs. In his will he left his Manhattan home to Bobby. Joseph Kennedy Sr. called him "my second son," and he . 'He was a man that seemed to obviously be of independent means and have a lot of time on his hands, like a supporting cast kind of person, one those people who traded on the Kennedy name and reputation. But the one thing that struck me even at that tender age was that I felt Lem was just obsessed with Bobby. He later received Were I to search his facehis souldown to the most granular level, I would find no clue, for there is perhaps none to find. Keep reading for an exclusive excerpt from Jackie & Me. The family went back Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" But by the time he was with his second roommate, Jamie Fanning, the room had just a few photos, and hippie posters had replaced the funereal black sheets. In the spring of 1972, with graduation approaching, Bobby took the SAT college board exam, and filled out his application for college. She never was here.' After Kennedy was elected president, Billings was a constant presence at the White House, and advisers were concerned about possible political repercussions. She has dabbed herself with Chateau Krigler 12 (I consider telling her it's my mother's favorite), and there is the complicating counter-aroma of Pall Malls, and somewhere at the back, simple bovine perspiration. ISBN: 0306816237 ISBN13: 9780306816239 Jack and Lem: John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings: The Untold Story of an Extraordinary Friendship by David Pitts See Customer Reviews Select Format Hardcover $22.29 - $25.49 Paperback $12.09 - $19.04 Select Condition Like New -- Very Good Unavailable Good $12.09 Acceptable Unavailable New $19.04 Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. Biographer Sally Bedell Smith referred to Billings as probably the saddest of the Kennedy widows., RELATED:Details About Kristen Stewarts Fiance Dylan Meyers & Their Adorably Casual Proposal. Lem Billings passed away from a heart attack at 65 in 1981. 'I'm sure he's already organizing everything in heaven so it will be completely ready for us with just the right Early American furniture, the right curtains, the right rugs, the right paintings, and everything ready for a big, big party, he said. Jackie O. He'd say, 'When you're shooting speed it's such a good rush. Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. Then she leans toward Jack and, in a whisper stagy enough for me to hear, says, "I like your friend.". Kirk Lemoyne Billings Memorial Page. He was born in Pittsburgh and graduated from Princeton. After it was all over, Bobby left home with $600, and traveled to California, sometimes riding the rails, and ended up in Berkeley where he bought drugs with money he panhandled. ", One of Jack's five sisters, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, found it hard to describe her brother's relationship with Billings, once stating, "It was a complete liberation of the spirit" for Jack, and that her brother was a "complete liberated man when he was with Lem. "He [Billings] was a witness to so much of what was going on. We're due at Bobby and Ethel's that night, but Jack instead cuts across Chain Bridge. 10 Lem Billings Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images Images Images Creative Editorial Video Creative Editorial FILTERS CREATIVE EDITORIAL VIDEO 10 Lem Billings Premium High Res Photos Browse 10 lem billings stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. the most part, commented to a White House usher, "He (Lem) has been a house Billings had even begun calling Bobby 'Jack' by mistake, and Billings had instructed one of Bobby's close cousins, Christopher Kennedy Lawford, also a drug abuser at the time, to be to Bobby what RFK had been to JFK. who established the African-American LeMoyne-Owen College). And it was pretty common, of course in those days and that culture, for men not to be that way.". Her main concern was that he be on time for dinner. It's the last year of . 'And there he was hunting rats out of that pile of dead sheep and cow carcasses. Because it was the boys' first offense, they were placed on probation. She never visited.'. A Princeton friend and former business partner confided to Pitts about Billings that after Jack's death: "He didn't want to live anymore," and other friends claimed that he never recovered from the loss. Bobby, do you have clothes?" Girls in these days are instructed to shoot out a clean, firm thread of inquiry at all times. "And I think he might have been, honestly. While the 35th president has been legendarily known as a womanizer who frequently cheated on his wife, Oppenheimer alleges that JFKs three-decades-long relationship with his former prep school friend Lem Billings may have been a sexual one. When Bobby Kennedy, He was also a trustee of the Kennedy Library at Harvard. He passed away peacefully at home February. Their foresight led to the development of a funeral home dedicated to providing the best quality service possible to families at their . "And he also played a very important role in the courtship between Jackie Bouvier and Jack Kennedy. In his heartfelt and rather candid eulogy, Bobby said, 'I'm sure he's already organizing everything in heaven so it will be completely ready for us - with just the right early American furniture, the right curtains, the right rugs, the right paintings, and everything ready for a big, big party. The martyred widow had taken out her anger and frustration on an easy and available target - her third-born, her late husband's namesake, Bobby Jr., who was a behavior problem even before his father's tragic death. If you have recently lost a family member or friend, we hope that you will accept our condolences. 'I've just met the smartest little boy! Tglich werden Tausende neue hochwertige Bilder hinzugefgt. Im sure he's already organizing everything in heaven so it will be completely ready for us with just the right Early American furniture, the right curtains, the right rugs, the right paintings, and everything ready for a big, big party. I'd known him then for a few months and knew he'd do anything. Brother of Frederic Billings Jr. [spouse (s) unknown] [children unknown] Died 28 May 1981 at age 65 in New York City, New York, United States. The content produced by YourTango is for informational and educational purposes only. In the early spring of 1971, Bobby was being carefully watched by the administration because of drugs. I know he had all that baggage with his father, but being in that pit that was the kind of thing he would do. John F. Kennedy with Jacqueline Lee Bouvier. Jerry Oppenheimer is a New York Times bestselling author who has written two books about the Kennedys. Reprinted by permission. 'We'd have these conversations in our room at night, lying there before we'd fall asleep [Bobby on the top bunk, Fanning on the lower], and he told me that when you go to somebody's house always ask to use the bathroom and check in their medicine cabinet because they always have good pills that you can steal. A startled Kennedy responded to the note by saying, Please don't write to me on toilet paper anymore. The biographer Sally Bedell Smith, referred to Billings in one of her books as 'probably the saddest of the Kennedy widows.'. During the night of May 28, 1981-almost two decades after JFK's untimely death - 65-year-old Lem Billings died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack. Billings Funeral Home | 812 Baldwin Street | Elkhart, IN 46514 | Tel: 574-264-2425. The young JFK, messing around with Lem Billings during their Choate years. Lem Billings (left) became a surrogate father to Bobby Kennedy Jr. (right). Billings had once told Bobby that when he died he wanted the pall-bearers to be members of Bobby's circle of young friends, whom he knew well and with whom he had done drugs. According to biographer James Spada, When Kennedy tired of her, he passed her off to his brother in 1962. But Kennedy's reaction to Billings gay come-on soon changed and he became more amenable to his friend's advances, according to the writer Lawrence J. Quirk, author of "The Kennedys in Hollywood." Mind you, there's nothing in that honorific Miss to signify a lady of distinction. The first time Kirk Lemoyne 'Lem' Billings was introduced to Bobby Kennedy Jr. the two spent several hours alone in the boy's room at fabled Hickory Hill, Robert and Ethel Kennedy's historic,. ', 'It was that kind of talk, more bragging, but I believed him. In Victorian Young Jfk. The Funeral Home and/or Cemeterys policy is to NOT reproduce any copyrighted or other proprietary materials without verification from the User that they have the lawful right and/or authority to use. A different side of JFK: John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings met atChoate Rosemary Hall and became lifelong friends. ', The Kennedy patriarch, Joe, a noted philanderer himself, was suspicious of Billings' sexual preference from the start of his son's close friendship with him. Forests of redbud and magnolia are thickening around us, and somehow they're all in on the secret, and Kay Starr sings "Wheel of Fortune" on the radio, and, during the second chorus, I sneeze, and Jack says, "Perfectly in tune, Lem," and then the song is over, and we're pulling up in front of . This page is created to honor his memory and is dedicated to his family and friends. Kennedy was unwell through much of his childhood, beginning with a near-deadly case of scarlet . Kennedy and Billings met in 1933 in their sophomore year at Choate Rosemary Hall, an exclusive Connecticut prep school. Bobby's next school on his difficult road to a high school diploma was Pomfret, which was having its own troubles. He headed the committee that oversaw the construction of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Trio arrested during crackdown fall foul of national security law. In 1962, the Queen, then 35, invited Jackie to a lunch when the First Lady was in London visiting her sister, Lee Radziwill, who lived there with her husband Prince Stanislaw Radziwill. Their lifelong relationship caused some of the presidents advisers to fear Russian agents may use the information as blackmail. President Kennedy was a completely liberated man when he was with Lem.'. According to Billings' biographer David Pitts, Once JFK decided that Billings was his best friend like it or leave, everybody in the family sort of fell in line with that. Published online July 6, 2017. Love Irish history? It only got worse with the drugs. Get out of my life.'. His latest book, The Kardashians: An American Drama, will be published in September. Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings (April 15, 1916 - May 28, 1981) was a close and long-time friend of President John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy family. A unique and lasting tribute for a . I have one additional comment, probably to be regarded as politically incorrect. He says Billings even had his own room in the White House, much to Jackie Kennedys chagrin. Sixteen days after RFK was buried, Ethel and her brood were aboard a yacht destined for Hyannis Port and the Kennedy compound. Terrien had been RFK's roommate at Harvard and later at the University of Virginia Law School, and he was particularly upset about what he saw clearly as Billings's growing infatuation with young Bobby. Kirk LeMoyne " Lem " Billings (April 15, 1916 - May 28, 1981) was an American businessman known for his close and long-time friendship with John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy family. "The Kennedys were a liberal family and one that tolerated a lot of heterosexual promiscuity as well.". This was at the end of their final presidential debate at Hofstra University in New York in October, 2008. While he didn't have a chemistry teacher like Walter White, aka 'Heisenberg' of TV's Breaking Bad, the Camelot scion was doing everything he could to get high on whatever drugs he could get his hands on. 'But Bobby was doing a little more than some of the rest of us - a little more and maybe harder stuff than the rest of us.'. Murdaugh is heckled as he leaves court, Ken Bruce finishes his 30-year tenure as host of BBC Radio 2, Moment teenager crashes into back of lorry after 100mph police race, Alex Murdaugh unanimously found GUILTY of murder of wife and son, Isabel Oakeshott clashes with Nick Robinson over Hancock texts, Family of a 10-month-old baby filmed vaping open up, Ukrainian soldier takes out five tanks with Javelin missiles. And it's a kind of interesting love triangle between these three fascinating people.". The Kennedy patriarch, Joe, a noted philanderer himself, was suspicious of Billings' sexual preference from the start of his son's close friendship with him. This flower has been reported and will not be visible while under review. 'We would get a telephone call from that funny old nurse, who sounded like an old-time nanny, and she would say, "It's President Kennedy's birthday and Bobby needs to go to Mass and observe that," and my husband would have to take him,' recalled his widow. lifelong close friend of President John F. Kennedy. There was a fear Russian agents could use the relationship to blackmail Kennedy, says Oppenheimer. reason I never got married.". "And she knew, at some level, that she was marrying another version of her father. Mark Bontecou, a scion of the wealthy Bontecou family of Millbrook, which had once owned a good part of the land on which Millbrook School resided, also recalled how Billings was a constant companion of Bobby's during the school year. His behavior, particularly his drug use, had the administration concerned that if something happened to the young Kennedy, such as an overdose or worse, all hell would come down on the school and tarnish its reputation. While Lem Billings was an actual Kennedy intimate, narrator Lem is reminiscent of The Great Gatsby's Nick Carraway, and his fictional reminiscences structure the novel around the triangular friendship he shares with Jack and Jackie in the years leading up to their wedding in the early 1950s. He had an older sister, Ruth (Speer) Steele, older brother, Eugene "Bud" Speer, and younger half-brother Lawrence "Larry" Payant. Billings, was a prep school roommate and then Jerry Oppenheimer is a New York Times bestselling author who has written two books about the Kennedys. He was kind of sinister. The only other adult who was practically a member of the Kennedy family and who was concerned enough about Bobby's welfare to check in on him was the Kennedy family nurse, Luella Hennessey-Donovan. The point is there's no way of knowing what they're saying, and Jack sometimes gets cross if I talk too much with his dates (unless I'm doing something useful like showing them the door). While on the road, the only person he touched base with was Lem Billings. I thought, anything goes with this guy. 'But the one thing that struck me even at that tender age was that I felt Lem was just obsessed with Bobby the way he watched over him, the way he was hugely protective of him. A planetarium-like darkness, with the two of them swimming like moons. Lem had several jobs including selling Coca-Cola dispensers to drugstores, working (In September, Jack joined ', As Quirk further observed, 'Jack was in love with Lem being in love with him and considered him the ideal follower-adorer.'. That kind of thing,' recalled the widow of one of the school's headmasters while Bobby was in attendance. After Kennedys assassination, Billings was devastated. 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Lem was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1916 Billings, who was a year older than Jack Kennedy, made his desire known while the two were still at Choate in a bizarre love note, penned on a piece of toilet paper that could be disposed of easily to avoid incrimination at a time when homosexuality was illicit. 'It was clear to me,' said Miesmer, 'that Bobby felt like an outsider, so he felt way more comfortable with the black kidshis father was a champion of helping blacks, so this kid who just lost his father goes to a school where there's a presence of black kids and he felt more comfortable with them.'.