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In a 2007 Lem Billings. And Bobby was sort of always unkempt.'. 16. 'He almost did things to shock you on purposeIt was a pretty dark, grim time; he was miserable and he was angry. whom Lem was also close to, died, Lem became exceedingly depressed and that caused I will stand by him. , How old was the Queen when she met JFK? 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 result is this book, which looks at Jackie before she was Jackie the Jackie that we all think we know. The piece featured here was a gift from Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings, a high school friend and lifelong confidant who helped Kennedy amass his scrimshaw collection, which included more than 30 . But then I realize she's never seen Jack's car (or Jack himself, maybe) in the naked light of day. Lem P. Speer, 93, died peacefully in his home on November 20, 2021. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. They met in 1933 in their sophomore year at Choate Rosemary Hall, the exclusive Connecticut prep school, when both were teenagers, working together on their class's yearbook, and Billings instantly became attracted sexually and otherwise to the handsome scion of America's self-styled royal family. According to Palfrey classmates, it was claimed that Bobby simply wrote his name - Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - at the top and sent it in, and got accepted. On June 30, 1937 John F. "Jack" Kennedy embarked on a two-and-a-half-month tour of Europe with his friend Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings aboard the S.S. Washington. He was kind of sinister. Everything involving Bobby had to go through Billings. Quirk had met Billings in the mid-Forties when both were volunteers in Jack Kennedy's first congressional campaign. ', 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. Ethel Kennedy issued the requisite concerned parent statement, calling Bobby a 'fine boy, and we have always been proud of him. mutual distaste for their school and its headmaster, Seymour St. John. at a General Shoe store, Emerson Drug Company VP, and an advertising executive Intimate relationship between JFK and his gay friend '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.'. ', 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. The two had been friends since meeting as teenagers in prep school, and Billings even had his own room in the White House, but were they merely friends? Later Years. 'Bobby would take his hawk and go hunting rats in the midst of the rotting cow carcasses and he sort of reveled in how off- the-wall that was. 'We couched it in terms of what was best for Bobby. Something quickens in the column of her neck. Although Joe Kennedy, the family patriarch, was reportedly suspicious of Billings close relationship with his son, the Kennedy family welcomed Billings into their exclusive family circle. The biographer Sally Bedell Smith, referred to Billings in one of her books as 'probably the saddest of the Kennedy widows.'. Although there have been several rumors throughout the decades of JFK being romantically involved with Marilyn Monroe, the former president has also faced rumors of a relationship withhis gay best friend Lem Billings. Like the rest of the free world, Billings was devastated when President Kennedy was assassinated. Jerry Oppenheimer For Dailymail.com He possessed a 'high, screechy laugh' and a 'high, nasal whine of a voice' that, according to Quirk, 'instantly tabbed him as gay.'. However, Kennedy's feelings soon changed and he became more amenable to his friend's advances, according to Lawrence J. Quirk, author of The Kennedys in Hollywood, who first met Billings in the mid-forties when both were volunteers in Jack Kennedy's first congressional campaign. Quirk had met Billings in the mid-Forties when both were volunteers in Jack Kennedy's first congressional campaign. through his life. 'I never could figure out why Ethel would let Lem have such an intimate relationship,' he once declared. KIRK LEMOYNE BILLINGS - Remember My Journey Billings had actually fallen in love with Bobby as he had fallen in love with Bobby's uncle Jack when they had become close chums while working together on the Choate [their prep school] yearbook. 121 likes. and helped gather delegates at the Democratic convention in Los Angeles when JFK 'I had written a report on Bobby, and Billings answered it and didn't agree with me, and that's when I thought, "Uh-oh, he's in charge here. 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. 'There was no gnashing of teeth and sobbing in the context of his leaving. Take a look inside Dublin's most stylish townhouse, Number 31. Naval Reserve and served in the South Pacific eventually Biographer Sally Bedell Smith referred to Billings as probably the saddest of the Kennedy widows., Following the assassination of RFK in 1968, Billings transferred his romantic feeling to Kennedys nephew, Bobby Kennedy Jr, to whom Billings would become a fawning surrogate father and fellow drug user.. Lem also worked for JFK in the West Virginia and Wisconsin primaries When Bobby Kennedy, Featuring interviews with Ben Bradlee, Gore Vidal, Ted Sorenson, friends, family, and many others . However, according to Lawrence J. Quirk, author of The Kennedys In Hollywood JFKs reaction to Billings quickly changed. 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. While Billings' missive is long gone, a startled Kennedy responded, 'Please don't write to me on toilet paper anymore. 14:55 EDT 13 Oct 2015. Make a life-giving gesture. Ethel's alcoholic, philandering brother, George Skakel Jr., actually booted Billings in the a** at the church, knocking him into the aisle. The enthusiastic pre-adolescent regaled Billings - a New York advertising executive, one of John F. Kennedy's closest confidantes and a closeted homosexual - with stories about his pet collection. However, the sixth-season premiere showed in fact that the heroin fiasco was . 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. Still, the Kennedy clan accepted - even welcomed - Lem Billings into their exclusive inner-circle, practically adopting him, and he became a part of the family. "Because he was so handsome, and he was so charming, and he just had that way about him.". I don't know whether she wrote to Bobby, but she certainly didn't telephone or visit him. Billings said. 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. If pressed, she'll fall back on the weather. In June 1961, just months after Kennedy began his presidential term, he and Jackie visited Buckingham Palace, where a black tie banquet was hosted in the President's honour. Jackie & Me Kindle Edition - amazon.com After the assassination of Robert Kennedy, a distraught Ethel turned over her son, Bobby Jr., to Billings to act as his surrogate father, sparking her brother-in-law, Terrien RFK's roommate at the University of Virginia law school to wonder why she would allow 'Lem to have such an intimate relationship' with her troubled third born, who would go on to have a a bizarre relationship with Billings, including the taking of drugs. It just reeks of arrogance, but I did not experience Bobby as arrogant.'. "Because of him, I was never lonely. Kennedy.). The story about Lem Billings '39 and JFK was very interesting and even moving (cover story, April 12). with remote attendance, or to view the service at alater time, all you need to do is click on the service, scroll down to the bottom of the obituary, and click on the links provided. And I think Billings had a way of editing things - painting the picture of Bobby's performance smoother than it really was. Quirk claims he first met Billings at Kennedys first congressional campaignand, as they became closer, he says Billings claimed that his relationship with Kennedy was sexual. This is one of the questions Louis Bayard raises in his upcoming novel Jackie & Me, which will be published by Algonquin Books in June 2022. After Jack Kennedy's election to the presidency, Billings was a constant presence and overnight guest at the White House. Trio arrested during crackdown fall foul of national security law. a year so that he and Kennedy could graduate from Choate together in 1935," finances. By Sydney Taylor Written on Nov 06, 2021. Billings and. Jack's best friend was Lem, and he would want me to remind everyone of that today. See additional information. of adding a fruit flavor to disguise the sodium citrate taste. If we had made that very different choice, we would've gone down a completely different road. * Originally published in June 2017, updated in 2022. 7:44 PM. And so the book is full of alternative outcomes, the different roads that these three characters might have taken, particularly Jackie and particularly Lem.". Her moods could swing drastically. 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, sprawling estate, in bucolic McLean, Virginia. The funeral will be held in Pittsburgh. of 1 JFK, or 'Jack' as he was known by his close friends and family, had a gay best friend named Lem Billings, who he met in prep school when Kennedy was 15 and Lem . 11 Strict Rules That Elon Musk Makes His Girlfriends & Wives Follow, Justin Bieber Suspected As The Father Of Kourtney Kardashian's Son Reign (Instead Of Scott Disick), Why Kate Moss Was 'Scared' & 'Couldn't Get Out Of Bed For Weeks' After Working With Mark Wahlberg. President Kennedy was the first US president to meet Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace, when the Queen and Prince Philip hosted the president and first lady for dinner in 1961, according to the US Embassy and Consulates in the UK. Clarendon? Mr. Billings and Mr. Kennedy. 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.' Sixteen days after RFK was buried, Ethel and her brood were aboard a yacht destined for Hyannis Port and the Kennedy compound. to the arrival of the Mayflower and were ardent abolitionists who championed the '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. JFK's Queer White House - Public Seminar . But it also looks at her through this particular prism of another outsider, Lem Billings. 'Yesterday was Jack's birthday. descendant of John LeMoyne, a French physician and Dr. Francis LeMoyne, an abolitionist JFK's Friendship with Lem Billings: His Best Friend Never Got Over She might be a cashier at the Montelle Pharmacy or Finland's deputy chief of mission, and you won't know until you've pulled up in front of her apartment building and seen her tottering through the front gate, a blonde in a crew-neck cardigan or a brunette in a bullet bra, and it's always the latter who raises her hand for you to kiss and the former who comes at you straight on like an encyclopedia salesman, and whoever it is remains "Miss" in our conversation until such time as the business is consummated, at which point she devolves into her component parts. 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. Kennedy was allegedly on the receiving end of oral sex. guest every weekend of my married life." When Billings died of a heart attack in 1981, Bobby Jr gave the eulogy (From left to right: Lem Billings, Bobby Kennedy Jr andEthel Kennedy), Part of the family: From childhood to adulthood, Billings stayed close to Jack Kennedy and his family. After Kennedy was elected president, Billings was a constant presence at the White House, and advisers were concerned about possible political repercussions. 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. Joseph Kennedy Sr. called him my sec 'He played with Bobby, if you will, more than a father probably would, was just devoted to him, and there was reallyl honest affection between them.'. A telephone conversation between President Kennedy and Lem Billings. Kirk Billings, 65, Dies; Friend of the Kennedys, https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/29/obituaries/kirk-billings-65-dies-friend-of-the-kennedys.html. His classmates were worried that he was going to kill himself, that we were going to find him dead.'. 50 Lemoyne Billings Premium High Res Photos - Getty Images I was told by Billings, "Nothing ever goes directly to Ethel." But we speed past all those destinations before steering up Old Dominion Drive. Lem Billings died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack on May 28, 1981, at the age of 65. I am sure the good Lord knows that heaven is Jesus and Lem and Jack and Bobby loving one another.'. . Gore Vidal, the writer who claimed he viewed homosexuality as normal as heterosexuality, disparaged the JFK-Billings relationship during the Kennedy administration. Pitts said. "I loved the idea of Lem being the go-between for the two lovers and being broker for Jack but also a confidante for Jackie," he says. "Oh, yes?" At fourteen and fifteen, Bobby was proving his bad-boy bona fides with Jesse Pinkman zeal. I still to this day see him standing there in his black necktie that he wore every day over a blue oxford Brooks Brothers shirt and a beat-up tweed jacket, and wearing the wildest bell-bottoms that were purple with Day-Glo green stripes like he was some soul band guy, and in his funky boots. Supposedly. 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"You learn a lot about how he met Jackie, about how intrigued he was by her, how intrigued he was by them," says Bayard of listening to Billing's testimony stored in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. In 1942, Lem joined the Ambulance Corps, an organization that It was he, not Ethel, who handled all of Bobby's expenses 'He would come over fairly frequently for dinner whenever he was in town,' she recalled. At Pomfret, Bobby didn't change his ways, despite his pot bust, and expulsion from Millbrook. He accepted it.' Her main concern was that he be on time for dinner. 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 . Millbrook School would be the first of three schools that Bobby would attend before he was able to secure a high school diploma. Try our online preplanning tool. David Marciano - Steve Billings (2008, recurring 2005-2007) Benito Martinez - David Aceveda (2002-2008) . JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century 1917-1956, 6. Like the rest of the free world, Billings was devastated when President Kennedy was assassinated. 'I've just met the smartest little boy! The only ties he now had to his family while in school was Lem Billings. Billings had a romantic relationship with JFK's nephew, Bobby Kennedy Jr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And The Dark Side Of The Dream "He also reveals that there was this crucial moment," says Bayard. We learn more curious facts when we read that Lem Billings became a 'surrogate father' to Bobby Kennedy, Jr., after the alleged death of RFK. Two months after Bobby was expelled, he along with a cousin, Bobby Sargent Shriver III, son of the former U.S. In the spring of 1971, Bobby was sacked once again. 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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 for Kennedy himself, Vidal asserted that the president 'felt quite comfortable in the company of homosexuals as long as they were smart enough to hold his interest.