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 . Lem Billings passed away from a heart attack at 65 in 1981. David Pitts, author of 'Jack and Lem: The Untold Story of an Extraordinary Friendship'said Lem was a gay man and he had a 14-year-old, good-looking kid living in his house with him and there have been rumors because of that. F. Irked, Joe Kennedy would sneeringly ask his wife, Rose, 'Do we have to have that queer around all summer? 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. Billings Funeral Home | 812 Baldwin Street | Elkhart, IN 46514 | Tel: 574-264-2425. JFK's oldest and best friend was Kirk LeMoyne Billings, known as "Lem." The two became fast friends in prep school and, after graduation, they traveled to Europe together. ', Rose Kennedy, however, had a different, more positive view of Billings. I say. But the one thing that struck me even at that tender age was that I felt Lem was just obsessed with Bobby. But it also looks at her through this particular prism of another outsider, Lem Billings. Kirk Billings, 65, Dies; Friend of the Kennedys - New York Times . 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Beyond the senator, young Bobby's aunt Jackie had inquired about his welfare but never visited.'. 7:44 PM. 'They make fun of my voice. But was reportedly upset that her husband spent so much time with him, and that he often stayed overnight at the White House. defeated. Lem Billings. JFK's Friendship with Lem Billings: His Best Friend Never Got Over 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. ', In fact, in private, she ranted, 'You've dragged your family's name through the mud.'. President John F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas 50 years ago, leaving behind a mourning nation and his gay best friend, Lem Billings. " Bayard says of Billings. However, according to Lawrence J. Quirk, author of The Kennedys In Hollywood JFKs reaction to Billings quickly changed. He once called Billings the 'chief f****t at Camelot.' The biographer Sally Bedell Smith, referred to Billings in one of her books as 'probably the saddest of the Kennedy widows.'. Sign up to IrishCentral's newsletter to stay up-to-date with everything Irish! But we speed past all those destinations before steering up Old Dominion Drive. After Kennedys election Billings would frequently be an overnight guest, which supposedly upset the First Lady, Jackie Kennedy. Among the faculty there may have been a collective sigh of reliefbecause things with Bobby would have only escalated and the attitude was, okay, he's now the next school's problem.'. , In office January 20, 1961 November 22, 1963. "But The Man Who Loved JFK - The Gay & Lesbian Review Lem married Rolla Jean Auer on September 17, 1950. The first lady, Jackie, had something of a love-hate relationship with Billings. 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. at the Manhattan advertising firm Lennen & Newell. . From Algonquin Books. He has really been part of "our family" since that first time he showed up at our house as one of "Jack's surprises". 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). He escorted Mrs. Stephen Smith, sister of the late President, to . To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. descendant of John LeMoyne, a French physician and Dr. Francis LeMoyne, an abolitionist Kennedy and Billings met in 1933 in their sophomore year at Choate Rosemary Hall, an exclusive Connecticut prep school. "Will we be chauffeuring her fianc, too? The Letter JFK Wrote His Secret Lover Before He Died, 5. 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. times, Lem might have been described as a "confirmed bachelor," although I'm not that kind of boy.. 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. He's just like Jack!' "And we could have made a very different choice. Jackie, I imagine, is now asking the name of Bobby's daughter or wondering if Eunice will be there and which one is Pat? 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. 'But we never saw Ethel. 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. There was a fear Russian agents could use the relationship to blackmail Kennedy, says Oppenheimer. JACKIE & ME | Kirkus Reviews ', 'It was that kind of talk, more bragging, but I believed him. Lem Billings. He accepted it.' When JFK was assassinated, he turned his attention to his nephew Bobby Kennedy Jr. Lem Billings - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia Keep reading for an exclusive excerpt from Jackie & Me. What happened when Jackie Kennedy and Queen Elizabeth II met? ', But Billings was embarrassed about his effeminate mannerisms he'd remain publicly closeted for his lifetime. After Jack Kennedy's election to the presidency, Billings was a constant presence and overnight guest at the White House. 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. '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. Jerry Oppenheimer is a New York Times bestselling author who has written two books about the Kennedys. 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. Trio arrested during crackdown fall foul of national security law. In her memoir, published eleven years after the first Kennedy assassination, she wrote that Billings had 'remained Jack's lifelong close friend, confidante, sharer in old memories and new experiences . Initially, Bobby's dorm room with his first roommate had become a veritable shrine to Bobby's father. Jfk and his longtime roommate Lem Billings. (Billings was gay) In 1965, Mrs. Kennedy invited Billings to accompany her and her children to England for the unveiling of a memorial to Kennedy at Runnymede. '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. Luling TX Obituaries | O'Bannon Funeral Home The young JFK, messing around with Lem Billings during their Choate years. 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. 'It was disgusting and it wasn't my idea of having a good, healthy time with my hawks, so I let him do his falconry in the dead cow pit, and I went and chased rabbits in the woods,' said Bierregaard, still revolted years later by the memory. 14:55 EDT 13 Oct 2015. They shared an insatiable intellectual curiosity, a robust sense of humor, and a disdain for petty rules. Search - Lipstick Alley Their close relationship also caused his advisors to fear blackmail and political repercussions from Russian agents. Jack for his health reasons and Lem for his eye sight. Heide Knop. and helped gather delegates at the Democratic convention in Los Angeles when JFK If you have recently lost a family member or friend, we hope that you will accept our condolences. His appearances were unusual in that you never knew when he was going to show up. The story about Lem Billings '39 and JFK was very interesting and even moving (cover story, April 12). ", Bayard learned something else about Jackie during his research. '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. I am sure the good Lord knows that heaven is Jesus and Lem and Jack and Bobby loving one another. The first lady, Jackie, had something of a love-hate relationship with Billings. Kirk LeMoyne Lem Billings (April 15, 1916 May 28, 1981) was a close friend of President John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy family. The Camelot that Kennedy Built teddyken95: Lem Billings. Kirk LeMoyne This flower has been reported and will not be visible while under review. If you need a funeral home you can trust, call today. Ancestors. He was born to Otis and Anna Speer on July 14, 1928, in Glasgow, Montana. 11:10 EDT 13 Oct 2015 book review of Jack and Lem, The New Haven Register interviewed the author and Lem even wrote John a love note on toilet paper . 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. Like the rest of the free world, Billings was devastated when President Kennedy was assassinated. He says Billings even had his own room in the White House, much to Jackie Kennedys chagrin. From all accounts, they became fast friends, drawn to each other by their A name he kept stumbling across was Lem Billings, who was identified as John Kennedy's longtime best friend. Wanting to be around family . They continued to Princeton Inside the intimate relationship between JFK and Lem Billings (2023) I don't know whether she wrote to Bobby, but she certainly didn't telephone or visit him. 'Bobby wasn't just a pothead. Were I to search his facehis souldown to the most granular level, I would find no clue, for there is perhaps none to find. '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.'. the most part, commented to a White House usher, "He (Lem) has been a house In the spring of 1971, Bobby was sacked once again. ", 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. ', Quirk, who acknowledged his own bisexuality, asserted that Billings 'believed that this arrangement enabled Jack to sustain his self-delusion that straight men who received oral sex from other males were really only straights looking for sexual release. Lem P. Speer, 93, died peacefully in his home on November 20, 2021. '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. 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. a year so that he and Kennedy could graduate from Choate together in 1935," Photo / Getty Images. I have no evidence one way or another, but I would discount [any sexual activity.]. Adapted from New York Times bestselling author Jerry Oppenheimer's explosive new book, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: RFK Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream. Best Friend | Princeton Alumni Weekly 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. according to David Pitts' 2007 biography Jack and Lem. As they became close, Billings confided that his relationship with Kennedy was, in fact, sexual, to a point. Billings made his desire known while the two were still at school by writing Kennedy a love note on a piece of toilet paper. getting discharged in 1946. 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. 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.. All the Kennedys were very much aware of Billings's sexual preference, or suspected it, accepted it, and welcomed him into their exclusive inner circle - practically adopted him - although the patriarch Joe Kennedy found him annoying at times. After Kennedy was elected president, Billings was a constant presence at the White House, and advisers were concerned about possible political repercussions. Published in The Elkhart Truth from Feb. 20 to Feb. 21, 2023. And now that we've crossed into Virginia, the only thing left to figure out is where she might live. 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. She never visited Bobby,' said James Hejduk, who had arrived to teach music at the same time that Bobby began his Millbrook matriculation. While Billings' missive is long gone, a startled Kennedy responded, 'Please don't write to me on toilet paper anymore. ], However, Oppenheimer said, Billings was viewed by many I interviewed for my biography of RFK Jr. as his gay Svengali who guided and literally tried to control every aspect of Bobby Jr.s life from the time he was in his mid-teens., A source had told Oppenheimer, Young Bobby replaced Jack in Lems heart of hearts.. As one source told me, 'Young Bobby replaced Jack in Lem's heart of hearts.'. Knowing the kind of intimate relationship that he had with the president, advisers were concerned about political repercussions, and even blackmail. Bobby Kennedy Jr's surrogate father was JFK's gay best friend Mind you, there's nothing in that honorific Miss to signify a lady of distinction. Jack's best friend was Lem, and he would want to remind everyone of that today. A planetarium-like darkness, with the two of them swimming like moons. Suchen Sie nach Lem Billings Fotos und ber 100 Millionen weiteren aktuellen Bildern und Stockfotos bei IMAGO. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. When we first happen upon her, her face is angled away, as though she's cocking her ear for a nightingale. quoted from the book: "Jack made a big difference in my life," ', White House visitor: Billings often spent the night at the White House, which upset Jackie Kennedy. But that's the kind of kid he was, deep into bad stuff.'. Lem was the second person Jack's sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, called after reaching her sister, Pat Lawford. It's when we're crossing back over Chain Bridge that she rouses herself to ask: "Jack, what color is your car?". The President's Best Friend | AMERICAN HERITAGE A wider smile than I would have guessed possible. 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Mr. Billings and Mr. Kennedy were roommates at Choate and then at Princeton before Mr. Kennedy transferred to Harvard. He truly loved the Kennedy's and as Jack's best friend. JFK's Best Friend Lem: Transcript. Quirk immediately pegged Billings as gay, noting his 'high, screechy laugh,' and 'high nasal whine of a voice.' A group home in Fort Myer, maybe. Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings was a bumbling giant, the offspring of a prominent but cash-poor Protestant family. Kirk Lemoyne Billings (1916-1981) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree 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. He had his own room in the White House and advised Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in her redecoration of the White House. "He also reveals that there was this crucial moment," says Bayard. While JFK is legendarily known as a master womanizer who frequently cheated on his first lady, his curious three-decades long intimate friendship with Billings suggests more than a simple bromance. 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. "They make fun of my voice. I thought, anything goes with this guy. 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. ', Drugs had become part of the scene at Millbrook, and Bobby would become a major player. 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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. ', About the odd KennedyBillings relationship, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, one of JFK's five sisters, once remarked: 'It's hard to describe it as just friendship; it was a complete liberation of the spirit.