to celebrate the life and vitality of Kurtz. Pow- ers is a minister with the Metropolitan Com- munity Chtneh, a church whose members are mostly gays and lesbians. She said MCC was founded 23 years ago by a homosexual in Los Angeles, and now has 270 churches across the world. Her parish is new to the Upper Valley and its congregation is meeting in a living room for now. Soon they’l1 move into the Norwich Grange. As Powers read from the Bible, some of Kunz’s fiiends sat with heads bowed and eyes closed. She read from John’s gospel ac- count of The Last Supper, in which Jesus said, “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” And then Kurtz’s friends spoke of their love for him. “He gave me love, friendship, wisdom. He gave me trust,” said Seery, who spoke first “I’m really thankful for him that this is all over. No more fight, nor more pain. He’s all better.” Williams, Kurtz’s ACORN Buddy, offered his “Undying love to everyone on the ICU” at Hitchcock He remembered Kurtz as a “pic— ture-perfect dresser with never a hair out of place.” But he was more than that Williams said, “He was warm, loving.” He also retained his sense of humor and re- mained in control of things even in his last days, when he couldn’t speak “He would hold his breath, and the red light would come on and the nurses would come running,” Wil- liams said to smiles and laughter. Intheend,saidWilliams,heandSeerywere there to “give him up gladly and never let go.” Carol Hamel of Canaan spoke next. Her sim- ple, eloquent words brought most of the gath- ering to tears. “His fight with AIDS was very courageous,” she said. “It was awful painful and always frustrating. He wanted it to be helpful to oth- ers down the road” ‘Never once didl hear him cry, ‘Why me?”’ Hamel said She ended simply, “Goodbye dear friend.” Then there was a long silence. Only the tick- ing of the parish hall clock and quiet crying could be heard. The next remembrances brought more laugh- ter than tears. A friend told how Kurtz agreed to let a second-year Dartmouth medical stu- dent practice his interviewing techniques on hint. The student was very nervous. “Charlie said, ‘Relax. My T-4 count is so low I have a name for every one of them.’” May 1992 T4 cellsarethecells thatarelcilledby the AIDS vims. It’s the deficiency of these leu- cocytes that leads to the cancer and pneu- monia and other illnesses that kill people with AIDS. The next friend who spoke told of how when Kurtz moved into the new hospital, a nurse asked him brightly: “What do you like to be called? Charles, Chuck, Charlie?” “Call me Princess,” Kurtz told her. Again the laughter ended and there was just the sound of the ticking clock. Tommy Cawley, a friend fiom Greenfield, spoke next, saying that Ku11:z used to intro- duce him as his only heterosexual friend “But he had many of them. Many.” Cawley said Kurtz often “kept me and my girlfriend in stitches.” And he also taught him about society’s homophobia and about Caw- ley’s own homophobia. “He taught me that it’s OK to be different.” He said later. “I’m glad he’s no longer suf- fering. But I miss him. We loved him — I loved him.” He will not be forgotten, said Cawley. “How can you forget somebody like that?” V AIDS HOTLINES: Vermont 1-800-882-2437 New Hampshire 1-800-752-2437 New York State 1-800-541-2437 Massachusetts 1.517-522-4090 Maine 1-800-851-2437 National 1-800-342-2437 Canadian 1-613-563-2437 AIDS Community Awareness Project (ACAP) PO Box 608 St. Johnsbury VT 05819 (802)748-1149 AIDS Community Resource Network (ACoRN) PO Box 2057 ‘ Lebanon NH 03766 (603) 448-4400 Bennington Area AIDS Project PO Box 1066 Bennington VT 05201 (802) 442-4481 or 1-800-845-2437 Health Resource Organizations Brattleboro AIDS Project 4 High Street, Suite 2-3 Brattleboro VT 05301 (802) 254-4444 (Helpline) (802)254-8263 (Office) Franklin-Grand Isle AIDS Task Force 8 Ferris Street St. Albans VT 05478 - (802) 524-7742 1-800-638-7834 Gay/Lesbian Alcoholics Anonymous GLAA, P.O. Box 5653 Burlington, VT 05402 H.E.A.L. Vermont (Holistic Education and AIDS Alternatives Liaison) PO Box 795 Montpelier VT 05602 - (802)229-4325 Lesbian Cancer Support Group (802) 660-8386 Northeast Kingdom AIDS Coalition PO Box 40 Newport VT 05855 - (802)334-2437 North Star (Holistic Health Care) RR2 Box 3255 Morrisville VT 05661 - (802) 888-2858 Vermont AIDS Council PO Box 275 ' Montpelier VT 05601 - (802)229-2557 Vermont C.A.R.E.S. (Committee for AIDS Resources, Education, and Services) PO Box 5248 30 Elrnwood Avenue Burlington VT 05401 (802) 863-2437 (Burlington) 1-800-649-2437 (Rutland and Washington County support groups) Vermont Department of Health 1-800-882-2437 (AIDS Hotline) or (802) 863-7245 (AIDS Program office) VT PWA Coalition PO Box 1055 Brattleborg, VT 05502 1-800-69-VTPWA or (802) 257-9277 Vermont Women’s Health Center 336 North Avenue Burlington VT 05401 - (802) 863-1386