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. RELATED:Jeffrey Epstein's Relationship With Princess Diana Explored In New Book. 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. dachshund they named Dunker but had to give him up because of Jack's allergies. Doesn't she hear the car's tires on the gravel? Billings had a romantic relationship with JFK's nephew, Bobby Kennedy Jr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And The Dark Side Of The Dream Share your favorite stories with other history buffs in the IrishCentral History Facebook group. JACKIE & ME | Kirkus Reviews 'But Lem,' he clearly recalled, 'was around a lot, and we as faculty were told who he was and that he was Bobby's caretaker, as it were, in a loco parentis kind of role. But the man married to Jackie Kennedy was quietly chided for his compulsive philandering. In his will he left his Manhattan home to Bobby. 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. Their close relationship also caused his advisors to fear blackmail and political repercussions from Russian agents. Jackie O. Lem Billings - Wikipedia 11:10 EDT 13 Oct 2015 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. Lem Billings, from a distinguished old American Protestant family, was taller, bigger, stronger, with a high-pitched voice and a loud laugh. "He also reveals that there was this crucial moment," says Bayard. John F. Kennedy with Jacqueline Lee Bouvier. Best Friend | Princeton Alumni Weekly 14:55 EDT 13 Oct 2015. Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you. I say. 'And there he was hunting rats out of that pile of dead sheep and cow carcasses. Jackie was reportedly upset that her husband spent so much time with Billings and that he often spent the night at the White House. Billings maintained close ties to the Kennedys and their children I am sure the good Lord knows that heaven is Jesus and Lem and Jack and Bobby loving one another.. 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. It was pretty clear he had some intravenous drug use back then, and he was the only person we knew who did.'. Newly-Digitized Documents (218,000 of them!) from the Archives Lem married Rolla Jean Auer on September 17, 1950. 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. During their wedding in Greenwich, Connecticut, Ethels brother knocked Billings down the aisle at the church. their summer trip through Europe prior to World War II. 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 . 2023 Meadowrockalpacas. 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). As depicted in Netflix's The Crown, Queen Elizabeth II did actually host President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jackie Kennedy at Buckingham Palace in 1961. Never-before-seen footage captures JFK on vacation months before 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. A startled Kennedy responded to the note by saying, Please don't write to me on toilet paper anymore. Standing next to Jack, or lying close beside him in a lawn chaise at the Kennedy oceanfront estate in Palm Beach, as one old photograph showed, Billings appeared to dwarf his chum. It only got worse with the drugs. And seated close to Kennedy is his shirtless, tanned and oiled best friend forever, his very gay chum, Kirk LeMoyne 'Lem' Billings. Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. 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. 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? But the man married to Jackie Kennedy was quietly chided for his compulsive philandering. "People think I'm a joke," he once acknowledged. If pressed, she'll fall back on the weather. Naval Reserve and served in the South Pacific eventually Lem Billings Is JFK's 'Go-Between' During Jackie Romance: New - People Billings enthused to RFK and Ethel in his high-pitched voice, which RFK made fun of behind his back. ', 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. He noted that everywhere Jack went, Billings was sure to follow, like a puppy dog. She reportedly had a love-hate relationship with her husband's best friend. Lem also worked for JFK in the West Virginia and Wisconsin primaries Lem Billings was the ultimate "wing man." Billings was quietly gay, at a time when such things were not admitted to, particularly for those people who wanted to stay in high society. '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. His latest book, The Kardashians: An American Drama, will be published in September. 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. Copyright 2023 Irish Studio LLC All rights reserved. All I can make out through my encrusted specs are a row of white pilasters and a front portico. 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. What if Jacqueline Bouvier had chosen differently? As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Yesterday was Jack's birthday. '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. Suddenly she became angry at Bobby, ordered him below deck, literally beat him with a hairbrush, and once again ordered him to get out of her life. If we had made that very different choice, we would've gone down a completely different road. Kennedy was allegedly on the receiving end of oral sex. ', 'It was that kind of talk, more bragging, but I believed him. Our website services, content and products are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. 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. Jack Kennedy and Lem Billings met at Choate and remained friends until the Dallas gunfire that ended Kennedy's life thirty years later. The Man Who Loved JFK - The Gay & Lesbian Review Bobby, do you have clothes?" A new book is claiming that John F. Kennedy had more than just a platonic friendship with his life-long gay best friend, Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings. of 1 The elder Kennedys at some point desired that the younger Kennedys: Years later, when Bobby was an undergraduate at Harvard, it would be Billings the boy's Svengali-like surrogate father who took control of his life after RFK's assassination who would convince Bobby that one day he could become the next Kennedy president of the United States. A group home in Fort Myer, maybe. Jerry Oppenheimer is a New York Times bestselling author who has written two books about the Kennedys. When Jack Kennedy and Billings were at Choate and later, when they were seemingly joined at the hip at Princeton for a time before Kennedy transferred to Harvard at his father's behest, Billings always accompanied him home on vacations. 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,. 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. Quirk alleged thatBilling and Kennedys relationship included oral sex with JFK always being on the receiving end. 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. . Bobby was an edgy, edgy guy. Billings and. 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.. The Letter JFK Wrote His Secret Lover Before He Died, 5. 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. ], 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.. Gore Vidal, the writer who claimed he viewed homosexuality as normal as heterosexuality, disparaged the JFK-Billings relationship during the Kennedy administration. Son of Frederick Tremaine Billings and Romaine Elizabeth (LeMoyne) Billings. Irelands most popular baby names of 2022 - by county! 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. One of the leaders of the group, Rob O. 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. I know he had all that baggage with his father, but being in that pit that was the kind of thing he would do. 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. Find the obituary of Lem Speer (1928 - 2021) from Billings, MT. Kennedy.). 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 was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. 'Yesterday was Jack's birthday. to Frederic Tremaine Billings, a prominent physician and Romaine LeMoyne (direct In 1964, Billings was named to head a ten-person committee to select a memorial to Kennedy to be placed in the Kennedy Center. And I think Billings had a way of editing things - painting the picture of Bobby's performance smoother than it really was. As he acknowledged some years later: 'Soon after my father's death I made a series of choices involving drugs that started me down a road from which I had to struggle to return.'. He's gone. I mean, she doesn't look like she belongs there any more than I do, and I briefly wonder if she's a housemaid or a nanny, taking her one allotted evening out. Introduction: My name is Rubie Ullrich, I am a enthusiastic, perfect, tender, vivacious, talented, famous, delightful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you. ', Drugs had become part of the scene at Millbrook, and Bobby would become a major player. 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. '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. The content produced by YourTango is for informational and educational purposes only. The Cold War was still raging, and there was fear Russian agents might use the friendship against Kennedy. It's the last year of . The Once and Future Kennedys - The Washington Post He'd be expelled from Millbrook and later be ordered to leave the second school, Pomfret, in rural Connecticut, for using drugs and displaying bad, often bizarre behavior. "And we could have made a very different choice. 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. 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. I'd known him then for a few months and knew he'd do anything. Genealogy profile for Lem Billings Kirk LeMoyne Billings (1916 - 1981) - Genealogy Genealogy for Kirk LeMoyne Billings (1916 - 1981) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. Bobby had believed Billings' every word. Remembering JFK's Bond with His Boyhood Best Friend, Who Never Got Over 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. In the summer of 1934, future United States president John F Kennedy was in his junior year at the prestigious Choate School in Connecticut. "Can't beat a good Irish pub" - David Beckham celebrates son's birthday in Dublin, UPDATE: Alex Murdaugh sentenced to life in prison for murdering wife and son, WATCH: Irish bishop's funeral held in Los Angeles today, Brian Donnelly, Irish American visa hero, has died, Sunak's Northern Ireland deal is a solid one, Irish bishops memorial services underway in LA as murder investigation continues, Ireland named one of the safest places to travel in Europe. For all I know, she's speculating about the Washington Senators' pennant chances. Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. Ethel Kennedy issued the requisite concerned parent statement, calling Bobby a 'fine boy, and we have always been proud of him. Lem was the second person Jack's sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, called after reaching her sister, Pat Lawford. 'I never could figure out why Ethel would let Lem have such an intimate relationship,' he once declared. After Jack Kennedy's election to the presidency, Billings was a constant presence and overnight guest at the White House. the two men was friendship. 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. quoted from the book: "Jack made a big difference in my life," "Because of him, I was never lonely. Bobby's uncle, Ted, who had just faced the Chappaquiddick scandal, flew in from his senate office in Washington to stand up for his nephew. The business was started in 1956 by Robert G. Michelotti and John F. Sawyers. 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. 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. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. He accepted it.' He headed the committee that oversaw the construction of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. "I just became fascinated with Lem because he was a closeted but as they used to say 'practicing homosexual,' and he was very much part of the inner Kennedy circle from very early in his life," says Bayard, who did a deep dive into the Kennedy archives and biographies while doing researching for the book. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., David Kenne. 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. They both kept diaries documenting, in words and pictures, their adventures, mishaps, and observations along the way. From Algonquin Books. 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. 'I've just met the smartest little boy! 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Their foresight led to the development of a funeral home dedicated to providing the best quality service possible to families at their . In the early spring of 1971, Bobby was being carefully watched by the administration because of drugs. Photo / Getty Images. 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. Lem P Speer <p>Lem P. Speer, 93, died peacefully in his home on November 20, 2021. His appearances were unusual in that you never knew when he was going to show up. The result is a meditation on the definitions . ', Jacqueline Kennedy was reportedly unhappuabout her husband and Billings' three decade long relationship. Lem Billings | Military Wiki | Fandom 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. Two months after Bobby was expelled, he along with a cousin, Bobby Sargent Shriver III, son of the former U.S. There is nothing, in short, about a "Miss Bouvier" to separate her from her predecessors. But, the Skakels had previously been homophobic to Billings. Something quickens in the column of her neck. 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.'. After Kennedy was elected president, Billings was a constant presence at the White House, and advisers were concerned about possible political repercussions. On school breaks, Jack often brought Billings home with him, sparking Joe Kennedy to complain to his wife, Rose, 'Do we have to have that q***r around all summer?'. Jack's best friend was Lem, and he would want to remind everyone of that today. ', But Billings was embarrassed about his effeminate mannerisms he'd remain publicly closeted for his lifetime. Kirk LeMoyne Billings was Jack's very best friend from their time at Choate prep school in 1933 to that fateful day in Dallas 1963. Inside the relationship between JFK and Lem Billings But Billings remained closeted publicly for his life. Jfk and his longtime roommate Lem Billings. (Billings was gay) Quirk claims Billings would later confide in him that his relationship with Kennedy was sexual, to a point, and included oral sex, with Jack always on the receiving end., Their arrangement, Quirk says, 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, and, Jack was in love with Lem being in love with him and considered him the ideal follower adorer.. JFK Tapes - Boston & New York (Lem Billings) - YouTube for inventing '50s fad drink Fizzies for the Emerson Drug Company. 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. 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. Wright said he never heard from Bobby's mother after the decision was made to boot her son. 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 And, for once, Billings, who serves as the story's narrator, has as big a voice as the Kennedys. Brode had liberal views, didn't mind that Bobby smoked pot with Lem Billings in Bobby's room. Given that Billings was a heavy-drinking 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." I have no evidence one way or another, but I would discount [any sexual activity. * Originally published in June 2017, updated in 2022. 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. Arrangements are pending at Billings Funeral Home & Cremation Services, Elkhart. Infuriated, his mother demanded: 'Just leave home. Reviews: 95% of readers found this page helpful, Address: 743 Stoltenberg Center, Genovevaville, NJ 59925-3119, Hobby: Surfing, Sailing, Listening to music, Web surfing, Kitesurfing, Geocaching, Backpacking. 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. When the President was assassinated in Dallas, Lem was in 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. All Rights Reserved. I am sure the good Lord knows that heaven is Jesus and Lem and Jack and Bobby loving one another.'.