Hi, my name is David and I'm a Lanceaholic. Thank you, good night and I hope I never recover.
I was privileged to know Lance as a hero first, a colleague second and finally a friend.
Lance was a blinding, brilliant flash of lightning that illuminated the world for fifty years.
If God made men in his image, Lance was divine in every sense of the word. He didn't just charm the husks right off of the corn, he charmed the kernels right off of the cob. More importantly, Lance was beautiful on the inside, like a sweet child, he remained innocent and trusting. When Life dealt Lance lemons, he made lemonade, tart, sweet, refreshing, delicious. I remember a time when Lance had accompanied me to a support group meeting, I believe now that each of us went to humor the other one. After a member had made a very, very lengthy apology to the group for dressing too provocatively, it was Lance's turn to share. "Well," he said, "we may have lost our health but thank God we have not lost our fashion sense."
David Keeps was editor of Details from 1980-1990. This is an excerpt of a eulogy
delivered at Lance's memorial service on January 26, 2002.