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Hall of Famer [22389]
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In memory of my good friend Bill Kilgore. He's been gone now for 25 years.
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Apr 19, 2024, 11:04 AM
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Some of you old farts may remember this tragedy. Bill was Director of Business Affairs at Clemson. He was at a conference in Orlando in April 1999 and had brought his family along for a vacation. For reasons never really understood, they were crossing a busy highway around midnight and hit by a car. His wife and son were killed, and he suffered severe brain injuries. His daughter was the only one to survive. Bill hung on for a few months before he died.
I've had a hole in my heart ever since, and always will. I always know when April is coming around because I get sad for no reason. I was an only child but Bill was as close to a brother as I ever had. We met in 7th grade and immediately hit it off. He was smart as hel! and had an amazing sense of humor... like mine, totally irreverent and a bit twisted by most standards. We'd talk on the phone for a couple hours and both be in tears from laughter.
This is a picture from 1974 our junior year in HS. Much to the chagrin and astonishment of the counselors and teachers at Carolina High School, these two dope smoking hippies were the smartest kids in the school. Not the butt kissing teacher pets and NHS members. We were Furman Scholars, as we had the highest SAT scores, and qualified for an academic scholarship. That's me on the far left and Bill giving the thumbs up.
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All-TigerNet [11324]
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Re: In memory of my good friend Bill Kilgore. He's been gone now for 25 years.
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Apr 19, 2024, 11:12 AM
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I'm sorry for your loss. Good friends are hard to find.
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Oculus Spirit [91433]
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Thx for sharing & yes, what a terrible loss of a friend & family.
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Apr 19, 2024, 11:13 AM
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And, what hair you Guys had! Geez!!
I attended Furman 1 year at night school in 1960-61 and can relate a bit to the Paladin high scholastic educational achievements attained there.
Message was edited by: lightbulbbill®
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Hall of Famer [22389]
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Legend [19509]
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Re: In memory of my good friend Bill Kilgore. He's been gone now for 25 years.
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Apr 19, 2024, 11:20 AM
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Prayers and good thoughts as you remember!
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All-TigerNet [10525]
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Re: In memory of my good friend Bill Kilgore. He's been gone now for 25 years.
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Apr 19, 2024, 11:50 AM
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I knew a kid like that growing up. Wild man hippie and a genius. Truly brilliant. He’d walk into AP classes and the teacher would think he was in the wrong room. Smartest kid in the school by a country mile.
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Orange Blooded [4051]
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Re: In memory of my good friend Bill Kilgore. He's been gone now for 25 years.
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Apr 19, 2024, 12:46 PM
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Prayers for you. I know what it's like to lose your best friend. We were both 31 and had been best friends since elementary school. It's a gut punch when it happens.
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Orange Blooded [4877]
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I remember this very well.
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Apr 19, 2024, 2:49 PM
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Bill passed away in August of that year less than a week before I was scheduled to take my oldest to begin his freshman year at Clemson.
His father dictated a post to a friend - it might have been you - to announce his passing. In the post he mentioned that he had just finished giving Bill a shave and was still sitting beside his bed when he passed. The image of a loving father tending to his son's needs right up to his last breath has stuck with me to this very day. As a father who was about to take his own precious son to a new, unknown beginning where he would be apart from me for the first time, I wept with Mr. Kilgore.
Thank you for this reminder.
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Hall of Famer [22389]
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Yes, you remember correctly 75. Bill was eventually moved from ORMC (Orlando
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Apr 19, 2024, 4:08 PM
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Regional Medical Center) to the Shephard Center in Atlanta... it specializes in brain and spinal cord injuries. His brain had swollen and they had to drill a hole in his skull to relieve the pressure. When it was OK for me to visit I drove down to see him. It was so sad. It looked like Bill, but it wasn't him. He just kinda grinned and looked at me like he was trying to figure out who I was. I couldn't take it and left after about 20 mins. He finally passed in August, as you said.
I don't know if his father's post was directed to me or not. But I knew his parents (Bill Sr and Marilyn) well, and spent a lot of time at his house during high school. Bill Sr was a Ga Tech grad, the first college graduate any of us had ever known. We were awestruck, as lowly lint-heads from the cotton mills of Gville. He was also an audiophile and had the first quad system I'd ever seen or heard. When his parents were out of town we'd crank up Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, etc.
TigerSmith '75®
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All-In [39736]
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Re: In memory of my good friend Bill Kilgore. He's been gone now for 25 years.
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Apr 19, 2024, 3:04 PM
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I had hair like that, now not so much.
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Orange Blooded [3472]
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Re: In memory of my good friend Bill Kilgore. He's been gone now for 25 years.
Apr 19, 2024, 4:24 PM
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Sorry to learn about such a huge family tragedy and your loss.
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Orange Blooded [4948]
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Re: In memory of my good friend Bill Kilgore. He's been gone now for 25 years.
Apr 19, 2024, 5:30 PM
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You are probably a lot younger than me Moon but we do share something We are both lint heads from Greenville.I went to Parker and you went to nearby Carolina.I never heard of this tragic accident but I know it had to hurt you very badly.
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