from Kirsty Noble

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from Sra. Rosa de Balanzó

10.27.04

"Un Recuerdo"

From the Palinski family's dear friend in Spain, Sra. Rosa de Balanzó

Querido Billy!
Te conocí poco, pero lo suficiente para darme cuenta que eras un buen chico.
Me acuerdo la semana que estuve en Cambridge. Me mirabas y sonreías
Hablabas un poco de espańol pero, de alguna manera, cosa muy curiosa , nos
entendíamos.
Estuvieron Kat y Ned en Barcelona, tu también tenias que venir, y os
esperaba con mucha ilusión.
Estuvimos hablando de ti. Hablábamos de tus cosas, de lo que hacías, de tu
manera de ser y te recordábamos con tanta ternura, que parecía que
estuvieras entre nosotros.
Para tu familia ha sido un golpe durísimo, te has ido y has dejado un vacío
ˇ tan inmenso ! que les será muy difícil superarlo, pero estoy convencida
que sentirán tu fuerza.
Con el tiempo no hará falta que hablen de ti, porque con una mirada, un
gesto, con cualquier cosa, hará que te recordemos.
Tu paso por la vida, para los que hemos tenido la suerte de conocerte y
sobre todo para tu familia, has sido un ejemplo de bondad y de generosidad.,
has sabido dar tanto, TANTO!! que hemos aprendido mucho de ti.
Te prometo una cosa, vendré a Cambridge a celebrar tu cumpleańos. No se
cuando podrá ser, pero te aseguro que lo haré.
Te recordaré siempre, siempre. Estarás siempre en mi corazón!
Rosa

First few days

Hi, this is from Kelly house. thanks for doing this.

On Sunday April 25, eating tacos at Kelly house as we often do on

Sundays, we would not have been surprised if Billy had dropped by, as

he would occasionally do for the most random reasons. The last Sunday

taco dinner, Billy had stopped in unexpectedly and joined us for our

house dinner. He was of course entertaining and his antics included

inviting some of us to join him in a threesome after dinner and showing

us his new trick of swallowing his own tongue. Certainly much of the

laughter during that dinner was created by Billy.

Billy's humor will always be remembered on our house quoteboard. Even

though our quoteboard captured only a small percentage of his most

humorous moments, here are his quotes that made it to the prestigious

quoteboard: "and by funny I mean foreign" and on his view on pulling

pranks on the freshman: "I figured, hey, they've been here for a

semester, it's open season on those little fuckers."

We will miss Billy's sporadic visits to our house and have left

candles on our front steps to Billy can remember where we are and find

his way back. We also welcome anyone to drop by during our taco dinner

to share Billy's stories or show us how they can swallow their tongues. We love and miss you Billy, Robin, Julie, Chris, Nick, David, Abbi, and Kelly.

First, I would like to thank you for putting in the time to make the remembering Billy website. As someone who was not a close friend of his but whose life was touched by him anyway, I appreciated having access to all the fun pictures and videos (since I have none of my own). My roommate and I wrote this for Billy's scrapbook, and I thought it would also be appropriate for the website as well. Thank you again.
--Clara Berg

Billy vs. The Square
Early on Sunday morning on April 25, I pulled out my roommate Gav’s copy of “New Faces 2002.” We were blessed to know Billy a little, but not enough that either of us had any personal pictures of him. I had to laugh when I saw his picture, because I was reminded that Gav’s book had been decorated. Last year we had hung out with someone who used New Faces to mark of all of the attractive male first years. So when I opened it last Sunday, I was greeted by Billy’s face, repeatedly circled with large pink hearts.
Gav and I lived on third floor Barrett last year, and Billy became a familiar face to us. We were struck by his ability to disarm difficult situations with his mischievous charm. One interaction in particular stands out as our favorite. I should first explain something about myself. For lack of a better term, I am kind of a…square. I like having a good time, but I tend to become overly impressed with myself when I do anything slightly daring. So I was excited and nervous when my friends proposed a trip to the Dayton club “Celebrity” one weekend.
Billy was the leader of the group, which meant that we only got there after getting lost first. While watching the drag show, Billy approached Gav and motioned to the group of girls standing in front of him. “Which one?” he whispered while holding out a dollar. Knowing what he meant, she pointed at me. He smiled in agreement and swaggered over. “Ok Clara, you’ve got to go up and give a dollar to that drag queen.” I balked and pretended like I didn’t understand. “Come on Clara. You just have to stand there and she’ll take it. I’ll even give you the dollar.” I was still reluctant. “It won’t be scary, I promise. Here, I’ll even go with you.” Finally the offer was tempting. He grabbed my hand and led me up to the stage, where I awkwardly held out the money to the obliging diva. Gav was amused, but a bit disappointed that I had been so easy for him to convince. As tight laced as I am, I was no match for his persuasive charisma. It turned out that offering the dollar was the easy part. It was letting go of his hand that was hard.
Clara Berg and Gav Eggert

Dear Friends,

Billy Palinski was in one of the last Humanities courses I taught, a section on Irish literature.  His travels in Ireland and his extensive reading made him a lively and well-informed and funny participant in class.  So we had a friendly rapport established by the time my friend and colleague Amy Mulnix and I inflicted on the college our Air Guitar act--posing as Annie Lennox and Aretha Franklin--to sing "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves."  Of the the many kind, fond, and generous accolades we received that night (from students probably hoping they'd have better sense when they were middle-aged), none was more endearing or pleasurable to receive than Billy's:     "Oh."
                                  "My."
                                  "GOD!!"
He then offered a gloss on this basic idea, but that first outcry of admiration--for our chutzpah rather than our talent, I am sure--made us feel like the brightest stars of the evening.
    Billy was a very dear person, and I will remember and miss him all of my life.

Mary Lacey, English Department

Dear Earlham Students,

My name is Adam Coffin and I graduated from Cambridge High School with Billy. I would just like to say that I was touched with the students and speakers from your school that attended and helped with Billy's services this weekend. Your dedication meant so much to his high school friends as well as the community because it showed us the amount of love that you guys had for him. You guys only had him for 2 short years and even if it had been 80 it would not have been enough. I always had an appreciation for Billy because of his humor. Being a joke man myself it was nice to see that we shared that common interest. Billy was also a soccer teammate of mine back in middle school. In conclusion, I would like to say that it was tremendous to hear how many of your lives that he touched. He was a great man with a positive attitude and it is for that reason that I try and continue to keep a smile on my face for him no matter how much I want to grieve.

Sincerely,

Adam J. Coffin

CCS Class of 2002

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Epitaph

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Previous Birthday Celebrations

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Time Does Not Bring Relief

Time does not bring relief; you all have lied
Who told me time would ease me of my pain!
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,
And last year's leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year's bitter loving must remain
Heaped on my heart, and my old thoughts abide.
There are a hundred places where I fear
To go - so with his memory they brim.
And entering with relief some quiet place
Where never fell his foot or shone his face
I say, 'There is no memory of him here!'
And so stand stricken, so remembering him.

By: Edna St Vincent Millay (1892 -1950)

Web Design

We are immensely grateful to Charlie Festel for his incredible generosity and patience. Without his willingness to donate his technical knowledge and design skills, this website would not have been transformed from an idea to reality.

Thanks for Submitting Stories, Photos, Movies, Time, and Support

Michael Maloney
Margot Kane
Emily Sullivan Sanford
Jake Adler
Sra. Rosa de Balanzó
Nate Kahoe
Anne Duvall
Nick Matthew
Eva Ball
Joni Waldron
Condon Fedler
Hanna Swihart
Dan Jordon
Siri Om Stone
Clara Berg
Mary Lacey
Walker Farrell
Adam Coffin
Kelly House

And so many more in the form of support and advice!