I have one additional comment, probably to be regarded as politically incorrect. 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. 7 Gay Presidential Rumors You Won't Believe (But Maybe Should) They adopted a little Quirk immediately pegged Billings as gay, noting his 'high, screechy laugh,' and 'high nasal whine of a voice.' "Oh, yes?" The first lady, Jackie, had something of a love-hate relationship with Billings. A name he kept stumbling across was Lem Billings, who was identified as John Kennedy's longtime best friend. She has dabbed herself with Chateau Krigler 12 (I consider telling her it's my mother's favorite), and there is the complicating counter-aroma of Pall Malls, and somewhere at the back, simple bovine perspiration. Like the rest of the free world, Billings was devastated when President Kennedy was assassinated. 'There was no gnashing of teeth and sobbing in the context of his leaving. 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. If you need a funeral home you can trust, call today. Bobby, who would become one of the nation's leading - and often controversial - environmental activists and lawyers, was a member of the falconry group at Millbrook, but his behavior was considered bizarre. He once called Billings the 'chief f****t at Camelot.' Lem had extremely poor eye sight and a high-pitched voice. Because it was the boys' first offense, they were placed on probation. 121 likes. the bond between Billings and Kennedy became so strong that Billings stayed back John F. Kennedy Had A Sexual Relationship With His Gay Best Friend Young Bobby replaced Jack in Lem's heart of hearts, one source told Oppenheimer, who is the author of the book Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And The Dark Side Of The Dream. 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. I'd known him then for a few months and knew he'd do anything. 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. Lem was the second person Jack's sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, called after reaching her sister, Pat Lawford. "Will we be chauffeuring her fianc, too? Their close relationship also caused his advisors to fear blackmail and political repercussions from Russian agents. Lem Speer - BILLINGS, Montana , Smith Downtown Funeral Chapel 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 . Did the 35th US President John F Kenned have a secret gay relationship with his childhood friend Lem Billings? He's gone. 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. Oppenheimer wrote in the Daily Mail that their intimate relationship would last from their school years to the day of Kennedys assassination. Her main concern was that he be on time for dinner. And now that we've crossed into Virginia, the only thing left to figure out is where she might live. 'He was a man that seemed to obviously be of independent means and have a lot of time on his hands, like a supporting cast kind of person, one those people who traded on the Kennedy name and reputation. Kirk Lemoyne Billings Memorial Page - Home | Facebook The funeral will be held in Pittsburgh. 11:10 EDT 13 Oct 2015 'We'd have these conversations in our room at night, lying there before we'd fall asleep [Bobby on the top bunk, Fanning on the lower], and he told me that when you go to somebody's house always ask to use the bathroom and check in their medicine cabinet because they always have good pills that you can steal. ', Hejduk also immediately perceived that the relationship between Bobby and Billings 'was probably one of those unrequited-love kind of things.'. /. Jack and Lem on Apple Books JFK's Best Friend Lem: Transcript. the two men was friendship. 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. Search - Lipstick Alley Lem Billings had a remarkable friendship with JFK that lasted from 1932, when the two met as classmates in prep school, until JFK's assassination in 1963. But, the Skakels had previously been homophobic to Billings. Billings was devastated after the JFK assassination. 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". 'He seemed a very pleasant fellow,' said Bontecou, a classmate of Bobby's. LeMoyne Billings and Ethel Kennedy attend Liza Minnelli Concert on May 23, 1970 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. In the spring of 1972, with graduation approaching, Bobby took the SAT college board exam, and filled out his application for college. Bobby, do you have clothes?" 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? All in all, there's a certain relief in being able to retreat into the Crestline's back seat. 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. 'We would get a telephone call from that funny old nurse, who sounded like an old-time nanny, and she would say, "It's President Kennedy's birthday and Bobby needs to go to Mass and observe that," and my husband would have to take him,' recalled his widow. Mind you, there's nothing in that honorific Miss to signify a lady of distinction. ', 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. Jfk And Jackie Kennedy. 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. 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. Kirk LeMoyne Billings, a retired advertising executive and a friend of President John F. Kennedy, died Wednesday at his Manhattan apartment. It was pretty clear he had some intravenous drug use back then, and he was the only person we knew who did.'. Knowing the kind of intimate relationship that he had with the president, advisers were concerned about political repercussions, and even blackmail. Lem P. Speer, 93, died peacefully in his home on November 20, 2021. ", 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. 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In Lem, Jack found a confidant and caretaker; Jack was frequently ill while at Choate, but Lem kept his spirits high . 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. David Marciano - Steve Billings (2008, recurring 2005-2007) Benito Martinez - David Aceveda (2002-2008) . Billings, LeMoyne | JFK Library Girls in these days are instructed to shoot out a clean, firm thread of inquiry at all times. While he told Bobby that he should find a woman like his aunt Jackie, none of Bobby's three wives would be anything like her. Leave your condolences to the family on this memorial page or send flowers to show you care. Jerry Oppenheimer is a New York Times bestselling author who has written two books about the Kennedys. "I think she went into this thinking that she was getting the conventional husband, even though her own father was a complete philanderer and she knew that," Bayard says. Obituaries act as quiet reminders to help us to remember them and all we enjoyed with them while they were with us, a celebration of their life. John F. Kennedy Had a Thing for Scrimshaw - Boston Magazine 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. defeated. 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 Bobby was sort of always unkempt.'. Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. I took drugs with him. 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. Young Jfk. Share your favorite stories with other history buffs in the IrishCentral History Facebook group. 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. The walls were covered with black sheets with framed photographs of RFK attached to them. Billings, was a prep school roommate and then Suchen Sie nach Lem Billings Fotos und ber 100 Millionen weiteren aktuellen Bildern und Stockfotos bei IMAGO. 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. 'Yesterday was Jack's birthday. And I think Billings had a way of editing things - painting the picture of Bobby's performance smoother than it really was. 25 Things You May Not Know About JFK - Purple Clover Ethel's alcoholic, philandering brother, George Skakel Jr., actually booted Billings in the a** at the church, knocking him into the aisle. Kirk LeMoyne "Lem" Billings, was a prep school roommate and then lifelong close friend of President John F. Kennedy. whom Lem was also close to, died, Lem became exceedingly depressed and that caused '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. Lem was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1916 I have no evidence one way or another, but I would discount [any sexual activity. Published online July 6, 2017. He accepted it.' JFKPP-001-012-p0005. This was at the end of their final presidential debate at Hofstra University in New York in October, 2008. 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. University until Kennedy withdrew for medical reasons. Keep reading for an exclusive excerpt from Jackie & Me. Lem had several jobs including selling Coca-Cola dispensers to drugstores, working Quirk had met Billings in the mid-Forties when both were volunteers in Jack Kennedy's first congressional campaign. 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. who established the African-American LeMoyne-Owen College). Lem Billings Is JFK's 'Go-Between' During Jackie Romance: New - People I am sure the good Lord knows that heaven is Jesus and Lem and Jack and Bobby loving one another.'. As one source told me, 'Young Bobby replaced Jack in Lem's heart of hearts.'. Trio arrested during crackdown fall foul of national security law. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., David Kenne. 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. The prestigious Kennedy name practically ruled the institution. I am sure the good Lord knows that heaven is Jesus and Lem and Jack and Bobby loving one another.. 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. He thought Extent: 82 digital pages Collection: JFK appeared to be in love with the idea of Billings being in love with him. Mr. Billings and Mr. Kennedy. Lem Billings would play many roles in Bobby's life, as adventurer accompanying him on expeditions in the wild, as fellow druggie, and as his Dear Abby, advising him on who to date and who not to. As they became close, Billings confided that his relationship with Kennedy was, in fact, sexual, to a point. And George Terrian, the alcoholic husband of Ethel Kennedy's alcoholic, pill-popping sister, Georgeann, told me in interviews for my book "The Other Mrs. Kennedy" that, "Everyone in the family knew Lem was q***r - the Kennedys, the Skakels, everyone.". The content produced by YourTango is for informational and educational purposes only. '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.'. Given that Billings was a heavy-drinking Billings was a prep school roommate of Kennedy, an usher at his wedding and a campaigner for his successful 1960 presidential bid. By Did JFK Have a Secret Gay Relationship? - msn.com President Jimmy Carter broke royal protocol by kissing the Queen Mother on the lips during his visit in 1977. Lem Billings Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. "But Mr. Billings and Mr. Kennedy were roommates at Choate and then at Princeton before Mr. Kennedy transferred to Harvard. The Cold War was still raging, and there was fear Russian agents might use the friendship against Kennedy. Jack Kennedy and Lem Billings met at Choate and remained friends until the Dallas gunfire that ended Kennedy's life thirty years later. Jack and Lem: John F. Kennedy and Lem book by David Pitts In May 1981, as Bobby was about to marry his first wife, Emily Black, 65-year-old Lem Billings suddenly died of a heat attack in his sleep, Shortly before he went to bed he got drunk, started to cry and told a friend, 'I made a terrible mistake. 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. There is nothing, in short, about a "Miss Bouvier" to separate her from her predecessors. 'Haggard, tired' Ethel was ready for some calm. Lem was John F Kennedy's best friend. I don't know whether she wrote to Bobby, but she certainly didn't telephone or visit him. 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. His latest book, The Kardashians: An American Drama, will be published in September. Advocate Contributors November 22 2013 4:00 AM EST In photos. She saw that Lem Billings was obsessively devoted to Bobby. "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. through his life. You can't even talk to him. However, the relationship between he's stoned." ', As Quirk further observed, 'Jack was in love with Lem being in love with him and considered him the ideal follower-adorer.'. From the book Jackie & Me by Louis Bayard. 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. Photo / Getty Images. JFK's gay widow - Dallas Voice Billings said. Lem P Speer <p>Lem P. Speer, 93, died peacefully in his home on November 20, 2021. Quirk immediately pegged Billings as gay, noting his "high, screechy laugh," and "high nasal whine of a voice.". JACKIE & ME | Kirkus Reviews 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. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Billings had a romantic relationship with JFK's nephew, Bobby Kennedy Jr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And The Dark Side Of The Dream dachshund they named Dunker but had to give him up because of Jack's allergies. 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. The Kennedys were a liberal family and one that tolerated a lot of heterosexual promiscuity as well., In her memoir, Times To Remember, published eleven years after JFKs assassination in Dallas in 1963, matriarch Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy wrote that Billings had remained Jack's lifelong close friend, confidant, sharer in old memories and new experiencesHe has really been part of 'our family' since that first time he showed up at our house as one of 'Jack's surprises., Lem Billings and John F. Kennedy pictured at the Kennedy familys Palm Beach estate. Joseph Kennedy Sr. called him "my second son," and he . 'Yesterday was Jack's birthday. ', Rose Kennedy, however, had a different, more positive view of Billings. The book "Jack and Lem: John F. Kennedy and Lem Billings: The Untold Story of an Extraordinary Friendship," details the extraordinary relationship between two unlikely friends. A group home in Fort Myer, maybe. Abruptly, she stands and gives us two quick waves and then, as she jogs to the passenger side, comes briefly ablaze in the headlights. 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. 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. He noted that everywhere Jack went, Billings was sure to follow, like a puppy dog. "Because of him," Lem Billings once said of President Kennedy, "I was never lonely" Ancestors. Did JFK And Lem Bellings Have A Relationship? Details Of - YourTango 'He almost did things to shock you on purposeIt was a pretty dark, grim time; he was miserable and he was angry. "And we could have made a very different choice. 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. according to David Pitts' 2007 biography Jack and Lem. "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. 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. Love Irish history? Find the obituary of Lem Speer (1928 - 2021) from Billings, MT. Lem also worked for JFK in the West Virginia and Wisconsin primaries From 1946 to 1948, Lem attended Harvard Business School. When we first happen upon her, her face is angled away, as though she's cocking her ear for a nightingale. 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. Jack was small and inquisitive, a scion of the Catholic, new-money Kennedys. About Us | Michelotti-Sawyers Mortuary | Billings MT funeral home and 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. Their foresight led to the development of a funeral home dedicated to providing the best quality service possible to families at their . Did OJ Simpson's Son Jason Kill Nicole Brown & Ron Goldman? He had an older sister, Ruth (Speer) Steele, older brother, Eugene "Bud" Speer, and younger half-brother Lawrence "Larry" Payant. Hidden away high up on a bookshelf was a small bronze bust of his father. 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. Fredrik Logevall on JFK, with David Nasaw, October 6, 2020, 3. . White House and advised Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in her redecoration of the It's the last year of . (In September, Jack joined The Elkhart Truth Obituaries - Legacy.com Billings and. 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.'. Irked, Joe Kennedy would sneeringly ask his wife, Rose, 'Do we have to have that queer around all summer? Billings Funeral Home. Jackie Kennedy, who liked Billings for She contacted the headmaster on several occasions to ask about the boy's well- being. Anyone can read what you share. 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. Born 15 Apr 1916 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States. Blogs; Online will; Shop. PHOTOS: Memories of JFK From His Gay Best Friend - Gay News, LGBT The Once and Future Kennedys - The Washington Post 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. Of course, that gave most ofus the thought - does this guy have a job other than caring for Bobby? 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. . It just reeks of arrogance, but I did not experience Bobby as arrogant.'. 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. Billings enthused to RFK and Ethel in his high-pitched voice, which RFK made fun of behind his back. "The Kennedys were a liberal family and one that tolerated a lot of heterosexual promiscuity as well.". His appearances were unusual in that you never knew when he was going to show up.