{"product_id":"9780692607206","title":"DeForest Kelley Up Close and Personal: A Harvest of Memories from the Fan Who Knew Him Best","description":"If not for a question I couldn't answer back in 2000, this book probably would never have been written. \u003cp\u003eWhen DeForest Kelley's biographer Terry Lee Rioux asked me, \"How 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, \"I have no idea. That's something only De could answer. I can't speak for him.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTerry persisted: \"You know the answer. You just have to connect the dots...\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTerry'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. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is how I discovered, for the very first time, the path that our friendship took. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMy hope is that my precious journey will bring you as close to meeting \"the real McCoy\" up close and personal as I was blessed to experience.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Kristine M Smith","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47015080624368,"sku":"9780692607206","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780692607206_p0.jpg?v=1763615439","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780692607206","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}