Vivian Greene - Stolen Kisses - Her Story
By Eileen Brown
Vivian Green's quote has been stolen HUNDREDS times without her copyright attached.
Do you remember the "Kisses" comic strip from the Sunday funnies?
Kisses Comic Strip by Vivian Greene - © Vivian Greene
I remember it well. It ran in the local newspaper (Wichita, KS) just under the Peanuts comic strip.
From about 1975 through 1980 possibly. There are no definitive records found on the exact dates. This recollection is from my personal memory, and may not be exactly historically correct as to the years stated. |
The Kisses comic Strip appeared just under Peanuts.
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Stolen Kisses - Vivian's True Life Story
This is a story that's hard to write. It may mention a name or two that you'll recognize and and we are not going to pull punches on those names.
It's about a stolen life - everything you can imagine. The best way to bring attention to this is not a press release, it's to tell the story as Vivian tells it herself.
We venture first to Vivian Greene's website, VivianGreene.com. Which, by the way, she no longer has access to; either the website or the hosting. She's paying for it but could not access it after her webmasters died, which is taking legal action to retrieve. It should be updated soon though; you know the legal process only has one speed - very slow.
This is her story as printed below and still existing at Vivian Greene, Stolen Kisses
It's about a stolen life - everything you can imagine. The best way to bring attention to this is not a press release, it's to tell the story as Vivian tells it herself.
We venture first to Vivian Greene's website, VivianGreene.com. Which, by the way, she no longer has access to; either the website or the hosting. She's paying for it but could not access it after her webmasters died, which is taking legal action to retrieve. It should be updated soon though; you know the legal process only has one speed - very slow.
This is her story as printed below and still existing at Vivian Greene, Stolen Kisses
Be sure to watch the VIDEO at the end of this - Part 1 - Scroll down ---
Stolen Kisses:
How My Kisses Became an Adventure Worthy of
Oprah, Dr. Phil & an IPO
There are very few artists who get to preside over their own estate sales. In fact, my estate sale has been a rolling affair, taking place all over the country for the last decade. I only got in on the action recently.
"I may be the first and only dead artist to sign my work while I'm alive"
It's understandable to be behind the times when you're dead, but I'm getting ahead of myself. The good news is I may be the first and only dead artist to sign my work now so you don't have to wait for it to go up in value.
"Despite being presumed dead, Vivian Greene is still hard at work, doing what she does best, making the world a better place one work of art at a time" -- Melinda Young
The Eye of the Storm
My career as a late artist began innocently enough some years ago shortly after Hurricane Andrew. Vivian the person and Vivian Greene, Inc., both survived the storm. The company where I stored my business's archives, Goldcoast Graphics, did not.
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The work of 18 years of my life — the plates and negatives for more than 500 designs—was gone with the wind. Fortunately, we still had our current inventory and work in progress safely stored in the undamaged part of my 15,000 square foot warehouse. And we were offered a tremendous opportunity by Hawaii publisher Island Heritage to emerge from the rubble of Andrew stronger than ever. Island Heritage was like a twin of my company, except they only sold in Hawaii. Working together, I could expand their distribution on the mainland and they could print my products in their Hong Kong and Nevada facilities. It would be a nice marriage—of skills, expertise, and connections. I would have to relocate to Hawaii and ship my inventory, but the potential for success far outweighed any inconvenience. |
Vivian Greene - Island Heritage
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It looked as if my life was getting even better when the then-president of the local franchise of Allied Van Lines, Wayne Alden Barnett, answered a classified ad to rent my Miami waterfront home. I needed to rent out my house and ship my life to the other side of the country, and here was someone who could do both. We agreed to both deals. However, he wanted to move into my house sooner than I was ready to leave. His family of five, like so many in post-Andrew Miami, was crammed into one hotel room.
"My home and business had made it through Hurricane Andrew,
but they were decimated by Hurricane Allied Van Lines..."
Mr. Barnett was very obliging. To help expedite my departure, he asked to rent my furnishings, too, even my artwork on the walls. He and his bookkeeper offered to help me pack. I wanted to help him and his family, so I moved out early and stayed with friends for a few weeks during the time my company's inventory was to be in transit. I had plans to arrive in Hawaii at the same time as my belongings and stay in the home of my friend Dr. Daniel Susott, the founder of World Family Foundation.
Since the Allied Van Lines shipment would take a while, Mr. Barnett even offered to mail the most important things - original art, documents, and my clothing - directly to Dr. Susott's home. He couldn't have been more accommodating.
Paradise Lost
I arrived in Hawaii on schedule. My belongings and inventory never did. Nothing, nada, not one thing. I scrambled to do what I could. We had orders to fill from stores, charities, and even our debut on the Home Shopping Network. With no original artwork, negatives or plates, I had to purchase my own cards from the store shelves just to recreate a handful of our hundreds of designs.
I waited, those working with me waited, fans waited, children, charities, stores...waited. Because I had no inventory, the plan with Island Heritage fell through. One by one, the other agreements had to be canceled.
I headed back to Miami to find out from the Allied Van Lines franchise president himself what had happened to my missing shipment. To my horror, my lovely home had been stripped, damaged, and all the furnishings and personal possessions were gone. The tenant, of course, was long gone.
I waited, those working with me waited, fans waited, children, charities, stores...waited. Because I had no inventory, the plan with Island Heritage fell through. One by one, the other agreements had to be canceled.
I headed back to Miami to find out from the Allied Van Lines franchise president himself what had happened to my missing shipment. To my horror, my lovely home had been stripped, damaged, and all the furnishings and personal possessions were gone. The tenant, of course, was long gone.
"I arrived in Hawaii on schedule. My belongings and inventory never did."
Mr. Barnett did leave me a few things to remember him by - a basketball hoop inside my beautiful white on white bedroom and a gaping burn hole in my patio awning directly above the burnt pit on my broken white tiles. My giant gold veiled angel fish were still in my 90 gallon tank - but the water and filter system were gone, and the angel fish I had raised from babies were indeed angels now, floating dead in the remaining nine inches of mosquito-infested water. A poor, emaciated kitten I had never seen before was left behind, too.
Everything - my original art, greeting cards, dolls, books, videos, animation cells, all of my personal possessions and my entire business inventory had vanished. My college degrees, my cover stories on magazines in 22 countries, videos of my TV appearances, gifts, sculptures, mementos, the four thousand collector editions I had signed of my book, "Good Mourning: What Death Teaches Us About Life" all were gone. I don't even have a photograph of my deceased mother, or of Toby, the man who shared my life for 10 years.
Nothing but destruction was left
For the first time in 18 years, I had to let go of my employees. These weren't just my workers—they were my friends, people who had built Kisses from the ground up into a multi-million dollar company and made the Kisses brand a household name. My home and business had made it through Hurricane Andrew, but they were decimated by Hurricane Allied.
And I didn't know it then, but the estate sale had begun.
And I didn't know it then, but the estate sale had begun.
Copyright Vivian Greene - Angel - Catch A Falling Star
Death Becomes Her?
Yes, we sued. Yes, we won. No, we still haven't collected on the judgment. While it's true that justice is only as good as you can afford, perhaps it's also because while I was passing through the court system, parts of the federal government decided I had passed from this world. (I know the court system can be slow, but I hoped to live long enough to see the end of this case.)
Maybe they thought I died because Kisses quit appearing. Or maybe it was because I was hit by other drivers in three different car accidents, which GEICO generously reported as six. (They even declared me at fault for one of them, even though I was a passenger.) Or perhaps it was because the debts I incurred when my ID was stolen could kill anyone.
To replace my stolen ID I was required to get a physical social security card at the office in Honolulu. The supervisor told me I was dead. Later I was also told that I had stolen my own car. No one explained how a dead person could do that. Then my car in Miami got a ticket, which was a neat trick as I was in Hawaii and the car was in storage. Maybe it was the Ghost of Success Past at the wheel.
Even the IRS placed a tax lien on my house for the income I did not make.
If I weren't dead, I'd write another book called The Penniless Millionaire.
Is it possible to ghost-write your own book?
Dr. Phil, you don't need a psychic to talk to this dead person. Call me. What a show we could do. “A dead woman talks about the afterlife, live (sort of) in our studio.”
Maybe they thought I died because Kisses quit appearing. Or maybe it was because I was hit by other drivers in three different car accidents, which GEICO generously reported as six. (They even declared me at fault for one of them, even though I was a passenger.) Or perhaps it was because the debts I incurred when my ID was stolen could kill anyone.
To replace my stolen ID I was required to get a physical social security card at the office in Honolulu. The supervisor told me I was dead. Later I was also told that I had stolen my own car. No one explained how a dead person could do that. Then my car in Miami got a ticket, which was a neat trick as I was in Hawaii and the car was in storage. Maybe it was the Ghost of Success Past at the wheel.
Even the IRS placed a tax lien on my house for the income I did not make.
If I weren't dead, I'd write another book called The Penniless Millionaire.
Is it possible to ghost-write your own book?
Dr. Phil, you don't need a psychic to talk to this dead person. Call me. What a show we could do. “A dead woman talks about the afterlife, live (sort of) in our studio.”
Heaven Must be Missing an Angel:
Vivian Greene's own Estate Sales
I have to say my afterlife has been on an upswing lately. During the past year my lost work has been resurfacing as owners from around the world have been getting in touch.
A kindly couple that owns an antique store offered to sell me my own work after finding me on the Internet. My company (what's left of it) received a phone call from a gentleman in Connecticut who wanted to know the exact date I died so he could value my artwork and sell it to Sotheby's. Other works were auctioned in various states. And a fan sent me a print to autograph from Switzerland. Apparently, she did not know I died.
A kindly couple that owns an antique store offered to sell me my own work after finding me on the Internet. My company (what's left of it) received a phone call from a gentleman in Connecticut who wanted to know the exact date I died so he could value my artwork and sell it to Sotheby's. Other works were auctioned in various states. And a fan sent me a print to autograph from Switzerland. Apparently, she did not know I died.
"My company received a phone call from a gentleman who wanted to know the exact date I died so he could value my artwork and sell it to Sotheby's."
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The lovely couple that called actually had bought boxes and boxes and boxes and footlockers at an abandoned mini warehouse sale. Why would I have things in a mini warehouse when my company had its own 15,000 square foot warehouse? Well, maybe that's where warehouses are reincarnated after they die. |
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“After all that has happened to me, I am not overly impressed with our legal system, my tenant from hell, the moving and storage company, or the IRS and yet, I remain optimistic and full of hope for the positive future that we can create together. I am blessed with a wonderful network of friends, creative talent and those heavenly gifts that show up unexpectedly when they are most needed. For all of these I give constant thanks.
"I have the opportunity to do 'angel work' by helping others."
You'll notice that many of the favorites from the KISSES family of children reflect this new reality and are now pictured as angels. Maybe I'll dress up as an angel myself and appear at autograph signings, as well as sell prints and on-line Virtual Kisses. We'll sell Collector Editions of the new, the resurrected and the re-born Kisses to generate the wherewithal to ‘Invest in Love ®'.
You can participate in this estate sale right now and buy and collect my life's (or death's) work and have the most original collection alive - Share our new beginnings.
Vivian Greene - Invest In Love ®
A New Beginning: Reclaiming her past, Vivian is now turning what they left for trash back into her treasure and rebuilding Vivian Greene, Inc.
You can be a part of a bright future by taking a
leading role in a most heavenly estate sale and
helping Vivian make the world a better place.
Host an event
Come to a seminar
Collect Kisses
INVEST IN LOVE ®
leading role in a most heavenly estate sale and
helping Vivian make the world a better place.
Host an event
Come to a seminar
Collect Kisses
INVEST IN LOVE ®
Kisses Greeting Cards! Where fine Gifts are sold.
There's Much More to Vivian Greene's Story - Watch Video!
You can find more photos and story tidbits at the sidebar at
VivianGreene.com - Stolen Kisses
VivianGreene.com - Stolen Kisses
Invest In Love ® & Vivian Greene Crowdfunding
Vivian Greene would not, and still is not, kept down over the tragic circumstances that surround her talent; her success; her life and her truth.
This is only Part 1 of her story. You will soon be able to continue on to Part 2 to see more of what happened and what is still happening now.
Oh yes, those names I promised shall appear in Part 2!
This is only Part 1 of her story. You will soon be able to continue on to Part 2 to see more of what happened and what is still happening now.
Oh yes, those names I promised shall appear in Part 2!
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Author - Eileen BrownEileen Brown's articles and technical instructions have appeared all across the web |
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