Lem's father died in 1933 placing additional strain on the family's 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. 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. Bobby's next school on his difficult road to a high school diploma was Pomfret, which was having its own troubles. Billings maintained close ties to the Kennedys and their children Kennedy and Billings met in 1933 in their sophomore year at Choate Rosemary Hall, an exclusive Connecticut prep school. Billings Funeral Home. of adding a fruit flavor to disguise the sodium citrate taste. Wright said he never heard from Bobby's mother after the decision was made to boot her son. When Joey Brode heard the story years later, she said that what Bobby had done, if true, was 'disgusting. Joseph Kennedy Sr. called him "my second son," and he . 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. Heide Knop. As one source told me, "Young Bobby replaced Jack in Lem's heart of hearts.". 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. 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?". a year so that he and Kennedy could graduate from Choate together in 1935," The result is a meditation on the definitions . "The Kennedys were a liberal family and one that tolerated a lot of heterosexual promiscuity as well.". JFK appeared to be in love with the idea of Billings being in love with him. She never visited.'. Jack and Lem explores the enduring friendship between John F. Kennedy and Kirk Lemoyne Billings (aka "Lem"). Billings was buried near his mother's grave in his hometown of Pittsburgh. When we first happen upon her, her face is angled away, as though she's cocking her ear for a nightingale. 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. 'Yesterday was Jack's birthday. and one of the guys just happened to be what we think of today as gay," 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. It was pretty clear he had some intravenous drug use back then, and he was the only person we knew who did.'. (In September, Jack joined Sam Gillette is a books Writer/Reporter for People.com and People Magazine. Try our online preplanning tool. ', As Quirk further observed, 'Jack was in love with Lem being in love with him and considered him the ideal follower-adorer.'. Bobby, do you have clothes?" "They make fun of my voice. 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 . by the end of his own lifetime he would have been described as gay. He was 65 years old. From all accounts, they became fast friends, drawn to each other by their He has really been part of "our family" since that first time he showed up at our house as one of "Jack's surprises". His latest book, The Kardashians: An American Drama, will be published in September. Jack Kennedy and Lem Billings met at Choate and remained friends until the Dallas gunfire that ended Kennedy's life thirty years later. He was born to Otis and Anna Speer on July 14, 1928, in Glasgow, Montana. Arrangements are pending at Billings Funeral Home & Cremation Services, Elkhart. We have 2 volunteers within fifty miles of your requested photo location. I have one additional comment, probably to be regarded as politically incorrect. I have no evidence one way or another, but I would discount [any sexual activity.]. John F. Kennedy, whose 100th birthday is being celebrated this year with a Kennedy Centennial postage stamp, TV memorials, a slew of books, and much media coverage, was revered as the 35th president of the United States. In Jackie & Me, both Jackie and Billings are devoted to the future president and it comes at personal cost. 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. Monroe and JFK were first introduced in 1954 by Peter Lawford, JFK's brother-in-law. '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. 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. ", "I thought, 'What a great cat-bird seat he would've had, and wouldn't he make a great narrator?' and helped gather delegates at the Democratic convention in Los Angeles when JFK The book is set in 1981, in New York City, where Jackie has settled after becoming the Widow Onassis and joining the working world. 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.'. 7:44 PM. I say. However, the sixth-season premiere showed in fact that the heroin fiasco was . * Originally published in June 2017, updated in 2022. From the book Jackie & Me by Louis Bayard. I am sure the good Lord knows that heaven is Jesus and Lem and Jack and Bobby loving one another.". 2. RELATED VIDEO: Carly Simon Opens Up on Unlikely Friendship with Jackie Kennedy and Jackie's Thoughts on JFK, Aristotle Onassis & More, By now, of course, I'm extricating myself from the front of the car and inserting myself with no great grace into the back, and the operation is so consuming that, for a second or two, I lose all consciousness of her, and then I hear her sayin that voice, like a ghost whispering through the pipes"You must be Lem.". 'He almost did things to shock you on purposeIt was a pretty dark, grim time; he was miserable and he was angry. "Because of him, I was never lonely. to Frederic Tremaine Billings, a prominent physician and Romaine LeMoyne (direct Joseph Kennedy Sr. called him "my second son," and he sometimes acted as escort for several of the Kennedy women . The president is seen teeing off, among his guests joining him being Press Secretary Pierre Salinger, lifelong friends Lem Billings and Charles Spalding, and British Ambassador Sir David Ormsby-Gore. 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.. Sixteen days after RFK was buried, Ethel and her brood were aboard a yacht destined for Hyannis Port and the Kennedy compound. 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. Lem Billings (left) became a surrogate father to Bobby Kennedy Jr. (right). But was reportedly upset that her husband spent so much time with him, and that he often stayed overnight at the White House. He is survived by a brother, Dr. F. Tremayne Billings, and a sister, Lucretia Billings Fisher. The funeral will be held in Pittsburgh. Were I to search his facehis souldown to the most granular level, I would find no clue, for there is perhaps none to find. 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. 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. '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. Sydney Taylor is a writer who focuses on News and Entertainment topics. was running for President. In both the book and real life, Bayard explains that Billings played a key part in the couple's romance. He was by all accounts JFK's best. 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. Among the snapshots is one that shows a handsome pre-presidential Kennedy sunning himself, sprawled on a chaise at Patriarch Joe Kennedy's Palm Beach estate. But then I realize she's never seen Jack's car (or Jack himself, maybe) in the naked light of day. 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.'. 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. From 1946 to 1948, Lem attended Harvard Business School. The young JFK, messing around with Lem Billings during their Choate years. 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. "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. Lem married Rolla Jean Auer on September 17, 1950. Make a life-giving gesture. Lem Billings Is JFK's 'Go-Between' During Courtship with Jackie as Imagined in New Novel PEOPLE has an exclusive first look at Louis Bayard's upcoming Jackie & Me By Sam Gillette Published on. 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. Quirk had met Billings in the mid-Forties when both were volunteers in Jack Kennedy's first congressional campaign. 'I got the impression he felt an obligation that somebody had to care for Bobby because Mrs. Kennedy was not a hands-on mother at all. Take a look inside Dublin's most stylish townhouse, Number 31. Kirk Lemoyne Billings Memorial Page. The Letter JFK Wrote His Secret Lover Before He Died, 5. Jerry Oppenheimer For Dailymail.com Her moods could swing drastically. I am sure the good Lord knows that heaven is Jesus and Lem and Jack and Bobby loving one another. Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings was a bumbling giant, the offspring of a prominent but cash-poor Protestant family.