Casey A Box

November 21 1993

Age 33, Houston, AIDS

Comments from the Instagram account #TheAIDSMemorial

“When I think of my friend, Casey Alan Box (Born August 19, 1960), the first thing that comes to mind was his charming Southern drawl and his laughter.
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Casey had a way of making everyone he met feel at ease and such was the case when I met him at the Officer’s Club in Houston, Texas during the summer of 1981. We locked eyes while socializing on the patio and I remember thinking what a pretty boy he was. A few minutes later, he sauntered up to me at the bar and introduced himself. I was captivated by this guy and liked him immediately.
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Our attraction to each other was immediate but at the time we were each dating someone else, so we kept our blossoming friendship casual, fun, and a little bit flirty.
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We used to hang out together during the week. We both worked in retail: I worked at Marshall Fields, and Casey worked at a Cavender’s Western Wear. He taught me how to dress like a cowboy, I taught him how to dress like a preppy. He took me to the County & Western gay bars, I took him to after-hours discos. Best of all, Casey was so easy to talk to — we talked for hours on the phone about everything.
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About two years later, we both found ourselves single and between boyfriends and took our attraction to the next level. I fell madly in love with Casey and had hoped we could settle down into a serious relationship but being that he had been hurt in his previous relationships, he just couldn’t fully commit. Knowing that we wanted to stay a part of each others lives, we both took a step back to preserve our friendship.
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1991 was the last time I saw Casey. He called me out of the blue and asked me to come see him. I played hooky from work and happily obliged. We fell back into each others arms and back into bed where we spent the entire day. And just like that, I was transported back to that magical time 10 years before with the sweet cowboy I always loved.
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Casey passed away from complication from AIDS
on November 21, 1993. He was 33 years old.”
— by Andrew Reither @andrewreither