I knew John Greene. He was a painter who also worked in collage. He loved to dance to Abba songs. He wanted to be a designer in San Francisco, and he was actually. Then he died of AIDS. He and I were friends. I went to his funeral and it was really awkward because most of the attendees were gay men who were thinking “this is going to happen to me too.”
All I can say is that John was a good person. I don’t have a photo of him anymore. But I remember his smile and his joy, and how one time he threw apricots at me in the courtyard of SFAI, and I caught them, and ate them, and said “Keep throwing, John, ‘cause I’m gonna keep eating them.” That afternoon was right before his death actually. And he was smiling, laughing, right in front of Pete’s Cafe with a bunch of friends around him. He could barely walk, yet he was joyous, John Greene, good person.
Submitted by a friend in 2026.