See additional information. 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. He once called Billings the 'chief f****t at Camelot.' I'm sure there were moments where they drew aside together and talked about this problem called Jack Kennedy because he was a problem for a young woman that was looking for love and attachment.". Lem Billings had heard about the school from Adam Yarmolinsky, a one-time trusted aide to both RFK and JFK, whose son had graduated a year before Bobby's arrival. John F. Kennedy and Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billingsmet in 1933 as sophomoresat Choate Rosemary Hall, a Connecticut prep school where they worked on their class yearbook together. Heide Knop. Ethel's alcoholic, philandering brother, George Skakel Jr., actually booted Billings in the a** at the church, knocking him into the aisle. Bayard, the bestselling author of Courting Mr. Lincoln and The Pale Blue Eye, tells PEOPLE he was "agnostic" about the Kennedy clan until he learned about Billings' personal history. ', Drugs had become part of the scene at Millbrook, and Bobby would become a major player. But I'm stuck with the Kennedys emotionally, and I will be to the end of my life.". Billings Funeral Home. Were I to search his facehis souldown to the most granular level, I would find no clue, for there is perhaps none to find. Lem married Rolla Jean Auer on September 17, 1950. Lem Billings died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack on May 28, 1981, at the age of 65. '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. Ancestors. When a Harvard classmate asked Bobby whether such talk had any reality, whether he seriously thought he could win a presidential election and be the second Kennedy to rule the country, Bobby's response was: 'I feel that is my destiny.'. The business was started in 1956 by Robert G. Michelotti and John F. Sawyers. Jackie O. Something quickens in the column of her neck. They continued to Princeton And seated close to Kennedy is his shirtless, tanned and oiled best friend forever, his very gay chum, Kirk LeMoyne 'Lem' Billings. a commission in the U.S. He escorted Mrs. Stephen Smith, sister of the late President, to . She told him, 'I don't really care if you have a girl sleep here, but I want it to be the same person all the time because I want my kids to grow to understating that love is good with one person.'. Millbrook School would be the first of three schools that Bobby would attend before he was able to secure a high school diploma. At fourteen and fifteen, Bobby was proving his bad-boy bona fides with Jesse Pinkman zeal. "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. 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. According to Jerry Oppenheimer, author of RFK Jr.: Robert F. Kennedy and the Dark Side of the Dream, Kennedy responded, please dont write to me on toilet paper anymore. 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. " Bayard says of Billings. "Because he was so handsome, and he was so charming, and he just had that way about him.". 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 . Trio arrested during crackdown fall foul of national security law. 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. Knowing the kind of intimate relationship that he had with the president, advisers were concerned about political repercussions, and even blackmail. Our website services, content and products are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. times, Lem might have been described as a "confirmed bachelor," although he's stoned." He is survived by a brother, Dr. F. Tremayne Billings, and a sister, Lucretia Billings Fisher. It was Bobby Kennedy Jr. who gave the eulogy. "Its the story of a really close friendship The more interested they appear to be, the more the boys will understand they don't have to be, in themselves, interesting, which is a relief to both parties. That kind of thing,' recalled the widow of one of the school's headmasters while Bobby was in attendance. "They make fun of my voice. She saw that Lem Billings was obsessively devoted to Bobby. But it also looks at her through this particular prism of another outsider, Lem Billings. Jack Johns. Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. John F. Kennedy and Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings met in 1933 as sophomores at Choate Rosemary Hall, a Connecticut prep school where they worked on their class yearbook together. Lem had extremely poor eye sight and a high-pitched voice. He's gone. 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. Published in The Elkhart Truth from Feb. 20 to Feb. 21, 2023. 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.. In Victorian and helped gather delegates at the Democratic convention in Los Angeles when JFK Jerry Oppenheimer For Dailymail.com. Bayard explores the beginnings of the romance between the future Mrs. Kennedy, then the inquiring photographer for the Washington Times-Herald, and young Congressman John F. Kennedy, with Jack's best friend, Lem Billings, serving as a "go-between" for the lovers in 1950s Washington, D.C. I am sure the good Lord knows that heaven is Jesus and Lem and Jack and Bobby loving one another. 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. Lem P Speer <p>Lem P. Speer, 93, died peacefully in his home on November 20, 2021. 'We never saw Ethel on the campus again. Bobby had believed Billings' every word. Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings and Mary Lasker attend a party at the New York City home of Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. On June 14, 1977. 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. whom Lem was also close to, died, Lem became exceedingly depressed and that caused Kirk LeMoyne Billings and John F. Kennedy. As Fanning recalled years later, 'The room was filthy and Bobby let the bird, which perched on the bust of his father, s**t all over the place, including all down that bust of his dead father. By Adam Salandra. Because Jack had no intention of ever being a faithful husband. 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.. According to one of the school's leading administrators and teachers, Hagop Merjian, Bobby was doing, as he put it, 'Really bad, s**t drugs heavy s**t'. A planetarium-like darkness, with the two of them swimming like moons. 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. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., David Kenne. Try our online preplanning tool. The young JFK, messing around with Lem Billings during their Choate years. 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. And now that we've crossed into Virginia, the only thing left to figure out is where she might live. Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. The only ties he now had to his family while in school was Lem Billings. In the summer of 1934, future United States president John F Kennedy was in his junior year at the prestigious Choate School in Connecticut. 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 biographer James Spada, When Kennedy tired of her, he passed her off to his brother in 1962. Billings would later spend nights in the White House where he had his own room, Schoolboy crush? Her main concern was that he be on time for dinner. I have no evidence one way or another, but I would discount [any sexual activity.]. His name was Lem Billings. 'I thought, that's the kind of s**t heavy drug users pull. 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. The first lady, Jackie, had something of a love-hate relationship with Billings. '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.'. 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. None of it came as a surprise to his roommate, Fanning. Everything involving Bobby had to go through Billings. 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. But as I began to research him, I realized he was also very good friends with Jackie," the novelist says. Claudette informed Vic that she was told that Lem's lack of a department funeral and motorcade would prevent news headlines about Lem's "dirty dealings". By the middle of Bobby's second year at Millbrook, around January 1970, he was placed on a secret short list of students considered too difficult to remain enrolled. University until Kennedy withdrew for medical reasons. 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. 'I can't say that I saw him put a needle in his arm,' he stated, 'but he talked like he was and he bragged about it. Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings was a bumbling giant, the offspring of a prominent but cash-poor Protestant family. All Rights Reserved. Featuring interviews with Ben Bradlee, Gore Vidal, Ted Sorenson, friends, family, and many others . In his will he left his Manhattan home to Bobby. The book is set in 1981, in New York City, where Jackie has settled after becoming the Widow Onassis and joining the working world. Their close relationship also caused his advisors to fear blackmail and political repercussions from Russian agents. Adapted from New York Times bestselling author Jerry Oppenheimer's explosive new book, Mom who lost both sons to fentanyl blasts laughing Biden, Missing hiker buried under snow forces arm out to wave to helicopter, Pavement where disabled woman gestured at cyclist before fatal crash, Isabel Oakeshott receives 'menacing' message from Matt Hancock, Pro-Ukrainian drone lands on Russian spy planes exposing location, 'Buster is next!' But for this kid to say that to me at that time was pretty deep and dark. 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. Inside JFKs Intimate Relationship With Gay Best Friend Who Had His Own Room In The White House, Britney Spears Blames Her Mom For Conservatorship Inside Lynne Spearss Complicated Role In Singers Life, Details About Kristen Stewarts Fiance Dylan Meyers & Their Adorably Casual Proposal, The Horniest Animal In The World Is Not What You Think It Is, I'd Rather Get Pregnant With My Gay Best Friend Than My Husband, Teacher Wants Student Removed From His Class Because The Kid's Parents Don't Approve Of His Marriage, Jeffrey Epstein's Relationship With Princess Diana Explored In New Book. For all I know, she's speculating about the Washington Senators' pennant chances. 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. 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. * Originally published in June 2017, updated in 2022. John F. Kennedy with Jacqueline Lee Bouvier. In a 2007 In Jackie & Me, both Jackie and Billings are devoted to the future president and it comes at personal cost. 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. Beyond the senator, young Bobby's aunt Jackie had inquired about his welfare but never visited.'. However, according to Lawrence J. Quirk, author of The Kennedys In Hollywood JFKs reaction to Billings quickly changed. He noted that everywhere Jack went, Billings was sure to follow, like a puppy dog. Make a life-giving gesture. and one of the guys just happened to be what we think of today as gay," In school JFK and Lem were close. 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 The hearing, lasting less than a half-hour, was held in private. A name he kept stumbling across was Lem Billings, who was identified as John Kennedy's longtime best friend. "Because of him, I was never lonely. And it was pretty common, of course in those days and that culture, for men not to be that way.". Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. . , In office January 20, 1961 November 22, 1963. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. He was also plagued by ill health. In what was later viewed as a twisted relationship, Billings was pumping up Bobby for a high political future at the same time he was sharing drugs with him, from marijuana to heroin through their years together. But the man married to Jackie Kennedy was quietly chided for his compulsive philandering. 2023byTango Publishing Corporation All Rights Reserved. JFKPP-001-012-p0005. By easy degrees, she turns around and bestows on me a fuller version of that first smile. From 1946 to 1948, Lem attended Harvard Business School. "Because of him," Lem Billings once said of President Kennedy, "I was never lonely" They adopted a little "He also reveals that there was this crucial moment," says Bayard. Joseph Kennedy Sr. called him "my second son," and he sometimes acted as escort for several of the Kennedy women . And so the book is full of alternative outcomes, the different roads that these three characters might have taken, particularly Jackie and particularly Lem.". 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. 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. But was reportedly upset that her husband spent so much time with him, and that he often stayed overnight at the White House. A different side of JFK: John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings met atChoate Rosemary Hall and became lifelong friends. Jack was small and inquisitive, a scion of the Catholic, new-money Kennedys. (In September, Jack joined Because it was the boys' first offense, they were placed on probation. 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. The President never failed to introduce Lem formally to visiting heads of state, dignitaries, and celebrities, but the introduction was never simply a matter of "I would like you to meet my friend, LeMoyne Billings." "He'd introduce me as Congressman Billings or Senator Billings, and even General Billings," Lem would later recall . 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. Did the 35th US President John F Kenned have a secret gay relationship with his childhood friend Lem Billings? 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. I mutter something on the order of yes, I must be, and she smiles. 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. Kirk LeMoyne Billings, a retired advertising executive and a friend of President John F. Kennedy, died Wednesday at his Manhattan apartment. Lem Billings, from a distinguished old American Protestant family, was taller, bigger, stronger, with a high-pitched voice and a loud laugh. In the early spring of 1971, Bobby was being carefully watched by the administration because of drugs. Lem Billings andBobby Kennedy Jr became close after JFK's death and allegedly took drugs together. Enter your email below to have our funeral service notifications delivered to you. The Kennedys were a liberal family and one that tolerated a lot of heterosexual promiscuity as well. Jfk And Jackie Kennedy. Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you. And Bobby was sort of always unkempt.'. 'We couched it in terms of what was best for Bobby. 'There was no gnashing of teeth and sobbing in the context of his leaving. Sam Gillette is a books Writer/Reporter for People.com and People Magazine. Fredrik Logevall on JFK, with David Nasaw, October 6, 2020, 3. Kennedy and Billings met in 1933 in their sophomore year at Choate Rosemary Hall, an exclusive Connecticut prep school. I'm not that kind of boy.. 'He seemed a very pleasant fellow,' said Bontecou, a classmate of Bobby's. New York City, taking lunch from his job at Lennen & Newell. Ethel Kennedy "booted" Bobby, Jr. out of the Hickory Hill home at age 14 and basically fed him to Billings. He was 65 years old. Please consult your doctor before taking any action. 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After Jack Kennedy's election to the presidency, Billings was a constant presence and overnight guest at the White House. to the arrival of the Mayflower and were ardent abolitionists who championed the The pair had a three-decades long friendship that some have speculated may have also included a romantic affair. 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. Mr. Billings and Mr. Kennedy were roommates at Choate and then at Princeton before Mr. Kennedy transferred to Harvard. 'He almost did things to shock you on purposeIt was a pretty dark, grim time; he was miserable and he was angry. JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century 1917-1956, 6. ', Another classmate, Brian Carroll, remembered 'this odd character' Billings, who was always on campus fawning over Bobby: '"Bobby, are you eating? Kennedy.). 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. Kirk Lemoyne Billings Memorial Page. 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. 'I've just met the smartest little boy! 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. And it's a kind of interesting love triangle between these three fascinating people.". A falconer, Bobby kept a pigeon-size sparrow hawk that flew loose in the small room. Bayard's novel takes place primarily in the months leading up to Jack and Jackie's wedding on Sept. 12, 1953. Hidden away high up on a bookshelf was a small bronze bust of his father. Infuriated, his mother demanded: 'Just leave home. RELATED:Britney Spears Blames Her Mom For Conservatorship Inside Lynne Spearss Complicated Role In Singers Life, Quirk explained this '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. The story about Lem Billings '39 and JFK was very interesting and even moving (cover story, April 12). 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.