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closeWednesday, Jul. 08, 2009
Tri-City woman remembers Michael Jackson
By Michelle Dupler, Herald staff writer
Kimberly Camp snatched moments from her busy schedule on Tuesday to listen to thousands of fans paying their last respects to pop icon Michael Jackson.
Camp, chief executive officer of the Hanford Reach Interpretive Center to be built on Columbia Point in Richland, recalled Jackson's childlike innocence when she met the ethereal star in 1998.
Jackson, 50, died June 25, leaving fans around the world reeling from the loss of a beloved performer.
Camp met Jackson while working as president and chief executive officer of the Charles Wright Museum in Detroit, then the largest museum in the world dedicated to black history.
She said Jackson had traveled to Detroit to talk to local movers and shakers about building an amusement park, and was told the museum was a must-see.
An entourage of about 30 handlers whisked him in the back door and up a freight elevator to a board room. But when Jackson saw a throng of fans crowded in the rotunda below anxious for a glimpse of him, he insisted on going back down and coming in the front so that he could greet his fans, Camp said.
With fans, Jackson was generous and grateful, repeating that he loved them and thanking them for loving him, she said.
It was like he had given himself up to his fans and his role as a pop star, to the extent he never had a second alone. He even was accompanied to the bathroom by his handlers, she said.
"He was very frail," Camp said. "I use that word in that he never had time to himself to be a regular human being. He had gotten to a place where he had surrendered his individuality for the sake of his fans and his music."
Jackson showed great interest in black history and the museum's exhibits, and very politely asked if he could call Camp at home to talk about collecting art and artifacts. But he never called, she said.
While Jackson's life became mired in controversy, the man Camp remembered is the one whose music she heard around the world, from Japan to Nigeria.
"To have someone who was truly internationally loved was really quite extraordinary," she said. "I really mourn his passing."
-- Michelle Dupler: 582-1543; mdupler@tricityherald.com
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