The author recalls a bonding night with his friend and cyber-advocate John Perry Barlow after his other friend, JFK Jr., suffered a sudden loss
I remember April 1994: Watching a TV show made me think of when I got sad news.
My friend Cynthia Horner died at age 29 from a bad virus. She was with her boyfriend, John Perry Barlow.
I went to Barlow’s house that night. My other friend John F. Kennedy Jr. was there too. We were all upset together.
Barlow, who died in 2018 at 70, knew Kennedy since Kennedy was 17. They became close over many years.
In 1977 Jackie Kennedy asked Barlow to have her son work on his Wyoming ranch. Barlow added some adventure to the ranch work.
The two friends did things like taking long drives and even blowing up gas wells together. They saw concerts and sometimes went on double dates.
Later, Kennedy married Carolyn Bessette in 1996. Barlow helped with their wedding. There’s a picture of Barlow, Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, and a priest getting ready.
In his book, Barlow tells a story about Kennedy’s last flight. He says Kennedy was late because he was writing a kind email about Barlow’s mother dying.
Barlow had warned Kennedy about flying at night. He told him to trust his plane’s instruments instead of looking for the horizon.