DeForest Kelley Up Close and Personal: A Harvest of Memories from the Fan Who Knew Him Best;

If not for a question I couldn€t answer back in 2000, this book probably would never have been written. When DeForest Kelley€s biographer Terry Lee Rioux asked me, €œHow did you go from being a fan€"on the outermost reaches of fandom€"to being at Mr. Kelley€s bedside when he died?€ I was struck speechless. Finally, I responded, €œI have no idea. That€s something only De could answer. I can€t speak for him.€ Terry persisted: €œYou know the answer. You just have to connect the dots€¦€ The question pestered me. My 30-plus year association with DeForest Kelley had all just seemed so miraculous to me. That€s because I still hadn€t come to grips with the reality that De and Carolyn Kelley weren€t just being kind to one of their most ardent fans. I had become a friend. Terry€s question led me to re-visit the scores of journals and four behemoth three-ring binders that I had filled with the conversations I had painstakingly recorded after each visit and call. You wouldn€t think€"as crazy about the Kelleys as I was€"that I would have forgotten a single moment. But I had. This is how I discovered, for the very first time, the path that our friendship took. My hope is that my precious journey will bring you as close to meeting €œthe real McCoy€ up close and personal as I was blessed to experience.