She was his ‘Beetle’ and he was her ‘Prince William.’
She is Barbra Bush, Will King’s girlfriend. On Wednesday, April 29 King collided with a Toyota SUV heading toward Davis Island on Hyde Park Avenue just south of Kennedy Blvd.
They met at the Retreat and Dubliner, not far from where King passed away. He happened to be a friend of a best friend in the nursing program.
‘It was love at first sight,’ Bush said. ‘An instant attraction between the two of us.’
‘When he saw me, he knew he had to have me,’ Will told her when they met.
Those next few days in December began their relationship before Will headed back to Connecticut for Winter Break. They spoke to each other She even flew up to see him. They went skiing in Vermont and she met his whole family.
‘I completed him,’ Bush said.
Along with his friends, Bush said that King was always the kind of guy that was just livin’ life.
‘Once you met Will, he was your friend,’ Bush said. ‘He was the happy-go-lucky guy who is living life to his fullest.’
Even for something as simple as dinner, he would go to the grocery store that night for the necessary items.
The couple was supposed to graduate together. Him with a communications degree and her with a nursing one.
Bush was offered a job as a Critical Care Nurse at Tampa General Hospital on Tuesday, April, 28, nearly a week after the accident.
‘It’s going to be hard because he died there,’ Bush said. ‘I’m living my life for him.’
Bush has King’s dog, Desiree. It was King’s first and only dog.
‘He [King] was the love of my life,’ Bush said.
Charlie Hambos can be reached at chambos@ut.edu