|
|
|
HOME
BIOGRAPHY
PICTURES
CONTACT
|
|
|
|
My life was enriched by
knowing Kim. He was an original – unabashed in his views,
unabashed in his self-confidence, and unwilling to patronize or
compromise. "Love me or not, this is who I am" seemed to be Kim’s
approach to
others. Genuine.
I also admire Kim for his dedication to excellence.
Pushing himself to do the best or be the best.
Mostly I loved Kim because he was such a great fan
of his friends. He spoke of them with a respect near reverence.
I shall miss him, and I am so grateful to have been
his friend.
Michael Beautyman
A Christmas Greeting For My Friends
(albeit a tad on the sentimental side if you'll indulge me)
I have never been much for giving presents to or getting presents from my friends at Christmas. ..or any other time
for that matter. .. (not that I judge or begrudge that in others).
It is indicative, I imagine, of some underlying and jangling
neurosis that a Freudian or Jungian therapist, or pop-psychologist, might relish exploring...but not one I choose to ponder
on.
It is enough for me that I know who my friends are and why you
are my friends. And the why begins with this:
My simple rule that as a friend you have always, in my presence at least, told the truth as you saw it; and tried
your hardest. The rest for me is icing on the cake. Certainly, the charm, and humor, and grace, and grit I find in each of
you is contributory to our friendship, but that "telling the truth and giving it your best" thing is the cornerstone for me.
And I admire you for that; it's easy to fudge. Methinks, at the risk of sounding trite, that it also engenders a capacity to
love. Which I also see in you...and admire.
So, on this Christmas (and because it's good to "give it up" every once in awhile) I choose to give you this: My most
profound and humble thanks for your friendship; and the hope that you will in
the coming year find whatever your heart desires...and joy...and bliss.
That is my wish for you and, frankly, for me too. May "the force", whether that is God or what we cannot fathom, be
with us.
Kristy Aserlind, a ski instructor at Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort ( in
Mt. Hood, Oregon ) was a varsity rower on an excellent University of
Wisconsin rowing team and has been rowing since college. She belongs
to a rowing club that rows on the Willamette River in ( or near ) Seattle.
In Kim's memory, she has purchased a 4-person Vespoli for her
rowing club and named it "Kim Prince." The shell was christened at 2
pm on Saturday October 20, on Magazine Beach in Cambridge, Massachusetts at
the Head of the Charles Race.
Thanks for sending this along. The early
soldier pix, I had never seen before. Haunting and
heartbreak sad, but I'm glad to have them. Much obliged.
Long live the prince boy, as he called himself so aptly and in the
end so painfully ...
Steve Atlas
Though the years are accumulating, I can
still vividly remember Kim hanging around greater Dublin and
the Lake Club. Though I did not actually witness the event (it was
reported to me by our mutual friend Bronson Shonk) I never think
of Kim without recalling the time that he apparently set the
Southern NH record for a racket toss in a losing effort to Louis
Crosier in the club championship--as if he could have beaten Louis
under any circumstance.
Ed Serues
_____________________________
This weekend I am going to Dublin, New Hampshire where my family
has been enjoying summers for 50 years. Many of those summers
included Kim Prince.
The last time I saw Kim was two summers ago for some golf and
tennis at his beloved Lake Club. Kim's competiveness was never
better - but his skills where slightly off. His many back
operations had taken their toll. He still beat me in tennis but
I took him in golf. He was a big guy and his great big smile was
as easy and big as ever. He smiled when he won at tennis like one
who reaffirms a life long ability to beat me like a drum. And
he smiled when he lost at golf. He was just happy to find someone
to share a Dublin Day.
I rarely saw him in the winter so we would catch up on the links
or over a lemonade on the Club porch. He always had a great story
about Naples or of some dog or horse or pool competition he had
covered for ESPN. I countered with an everyday story about my
family. But when we talked about me and my family, one really
thought he cared. He was good that.
Kim knew everyone in Dublin. In the early years he would stay
at his family's house and later was always able to get someone to
"put him up" for most of the summer. Who wouldn't want him as
house guest - always up - always invited to the party. And when
an old friend appeared for their two weeks, he would act as social
director. "Tennis tomorrow," would be the call, "or golf." He
knew who was up at the time and was eager to get everyone
together. Before I'd come up I would always asked my Dad if Kim
was in town - I knew the vacation would include good tennis.
Kim took a drink and if the time was right one could get him to
talk of an incredible life. TV personality, two time Viet Nam
tour vet, Harvard footballer and a jet set life style all made his
stories so much better than mine. I'll never forget his talk of
Viet Nam. He spoke of the curse of speaking French, his band of
brothers and the genuine fear that he would not live out his
second tour. It's hard to imagine a man with that voice and
wonderful body would fear anything - but he did and wasn't ashamed
to admit to sleeping under his bed for the last six months in Viet
Nam.
The Dublin Lake Club is very simple place. The club house is
understated but a treasure. The Club is all about the people who
come there and have kept coming back for over 100 years. Though
there is sailing and golf - it's about the tennis on slow
red clay and the annual championships. The fields are small. The
competition, however, is genuine and to the winner goes the honor
of being named on the most elegant silver cup outside of the New
York Yacht Club. This summer, like every other summer, I'll take
a look at the one trophy with my name. And I'll see Kim's name a
champion repeated year after year on almost every cup. I'll show
my young boys that their father once won a Dublin tournament.
I'll know my moment in the sun was because he asked me to play
doubles and on a wonderful Dublin Day.
Kimbo you left too soon.
Mark
Pyle
____________________________
The last time I
saw Kim was at a restaurant in Peterborough NH. There were quite a
few people in the dinner party, and I didn't have a chance to talk
to him until we were walking to our cars.
Kim, for no
reason I can recall, started talking about Vietnam. I remember him
turning to me and saying, "Perron (we prep school kids seem to
maintain a life-long habit of calling each other by the last
name), you know, there were just two rules in Vietnam...... Always
try your hardest, and don't lie." "Always try your hardest, and
don't lie", he repeated.
Those words
have been challenging me ever since.
Jack Perron
HensTooth Discs
____________________________
I always believed that Kim was a
gift to this world and blessed all that he came into contact
with. He was more spiritual and intuitive than he knew. He
blessed my life in such a huge way that I would like to
contribute something to the site but not really sure what.
Carolyn Michele Rose
____________________________
I went up on Google this morning to
see if I could track down an old friend of mine, Kim Prince, and
found out via your website that he had died in 2003.
Kim and I served together in Vietnam
and sporadically kept in touch over the years. In fact, I took
one of the pictures you have on the website (the one of him
holding the M-16 and looking "salty").
The reasons for me wanting to get a
hold of him were two-fold. First, I wanted to see if he was
interested in doing a golf infomercial. And second, because I
have recently written a novel in which Kim plays a major role in
the opening pages.
Thank you very much for doing the
website. It is indeed a fitting tribute to a terrific person.
Tom Grundner
(Call sign "Buddha" in Nam - which is how Kim always referred
to me)
Tucson, AZ
____________________________
Dear Michael:
Please forgive me for this intrusion and
being so late with e-mail.... It is only now that I have heard
from a friend about Kim's death. Kim and I met initially while
working on the television program, Look. I was one of the
producers on the series. They say opposites attract. I think was
certainly the case in the friendship that developed between Kim
and I. We were litterly on opposite ends of the spectrum in
almost every way; I'm African American, he was white, I grew
up under privilege, he grew up privileged, He was an officer and
a gentleman in Nam, I was a grunt, he was in front of the camera I
was in back. But despite our differences we somehow transcended
much and became good friends.
When Look ended in 82, we were
both faced with the question, "So what do we do now?" and we were
both hurting. We spent a lot of time together licking each other
wounded egos and thinking about projects we might mount together.
Losing the job at that time hit both of us pretty hard but
for me in particular. I had just gone through a divorce and had a
family to support. When the going got real tough for me, it
was Kim who called or stopped by to make sure I was OK.
When Kim first moved to Naples, Florida
we did talk fairly regularly, but as time passed we fell out of
touch. I believe the move to Florida was in part a bit of
an escape for Kim. He talked about wanting to be someplace where
he could start over. Someplace where no one knew him or his pain.
He talked about that regularly. I know he hated the thought of
being dependent on anyone. The last time I spoke with him he said
he was in a little less pain and getting back on track Witt work.
I'm not sure of the circumstances of his
death, but during our friendship we talked regularly about life
and death. During one on Kim's low points, we got to talking
about what got us through our Nam experiences. I think that Kim
was in a lot of pain and was trying to find a way to get through
it. I told him it was my faith in God, that got me through Nam.I
I will always remember what he asked me...
He asked how could I have faith in God when the world was so full
of so much suffering and pain. Where was God in Nam? Where is God
through peoples suffering? These are questions that I still
think of today. But back then what came to me was God had
little to do with Nam or suffering in peoples lives. When
countries go to war, its a decision based on personal beliefs,
motivations and interests, a decision that is devoid of God. That
when people suffer in this life it is not because God wills this
on them, but rather that suffering is a part of life and the
vehicle we have to help us through is God and faith.
I believe Kim understood that then and
hopefully at the end of his life. I have always been touched
by our conversation that evening. It remains one of the living
examples of how faith works.
I apologize if I have perhaps opened old
wounds with these recollections. When I got the news I felt the
need to reach out to someone who knew my dear friend Kim and share
what may be an insignificant moment in his life but very
significant in mine. He was and remains my friend and brother.
David Roderick
____________________________
Dear Michael,
Thank you so much for the website, although I must say
the news of Kim's death came as a jolt to me tonight. My name
is Lemie Lentz and I have a lovely story about Kim to share.
Just today (in North Carolina) I met a woman from Naples and asked
her if perhaps she knew Kim Prince. She did not, however suggested
I look him up in the white pages on-line. Frustrated in those
attempts, I Googled his name and thus found the memorial page.
As soon as I saw his face, I knew it was my old friend.
It was a fairy-tale meeting on St. John in the Virgin Islands
in about 1983 or 84. A teenager with whom I crewed on a charter
sailboat invited me to a huge St. Patrick's Day party at his father's
house. I can't remember the family's name. The house was palatial,
having great Spanish arches from which the glass could be rolled
into the walls creating a huge open air ballroom high on the ridgetop.
You could see the ocean below on both sides looking towards St.
Croix and towards the British Virgins. I met Kim there and we
danced together all night. I even remember what I was wearing.
And during the night he told me about having had a climbing fall,
the injuries, and resulting rehab. and depression. He said he
was just getting back into dancing, and asked me if I thought
he was doing OK!
Needless to say, I was smitten with Kim. The evening ended with
me feeling like a true Cinderella having danced all night with
the Prince. After the ball, I feared I'd never see Kim again.
But I did.
A week later we were leaving The Vigin Islands to fly back to
Miami. The plane had to make a quick stop in St. Croix, and you
can guess who got on-- Kim Prince. I couldn't believe it. I left
my Norh Carolina friend in our seats and went forward to talk
to Kim. He and I spent the entire flight back to Miami standing
in the galley talking AND talking. He told me intimate things
about his condition, he talked about death and suicide. I felt
he was very depressed.
Later he wrote to me and asked me to come visit him in Naples.
I never got to go. We talked on the phone several times throughout
the following years but eventually we lost track of each other.
I had lent him a manuscript about suicide which he never returned.
I'm wondering if he took his own life on his birthday.
My short time with Kim left me with story book images and deep-water
feelings I never ever forget. He was such a lovely man. Please
give my love to his family, even so long after his death, there
is one more mourner here.
With shared love for Kim,
Lemie
____________________________
Links to more memories
Tribute by Thayer Greene
at the remembrance to Kim
in Dublin in July.
John Kuhn's Thoughts
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
