SEATTLE, Wash. – Louis Thomas “Lou” Corbett of The Free Republic of Corbett, Seattle, Wash., and formerly of Westminster, Vt., died from cancer peacefully in his home surrounded by his friends and chosen family, who were also his tireless, loving caregivers, on Jan. 22, 2024. He was 77 years old.
Lou was born and raised in Newark, N.J., the son of Marguerite and Louis Corbett. Lou adored his younger brother William “Billy,” later known as “Willie.” Willie remembers fondly the “street cred” he had from having Lou as his older brother, and Lou supporting, protecting, leading, and teaching him on the path to a peaceful and thoughtful way of life starting as young children.
Lou attended Catholic schools in Newark, and graduated from Essex Catholic High School in 1964. He attended the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, graduating in 1969 with a degree in sociology. In Scranton, Lou found extended family, lifelong friends, and community. He was instrumental in starting a food co-op there, and traveled to Alexandria, La., with classmates to rescue a Black, Catholic school there, serving as teachers, coaches, janitors, etc.
Also in Scranton, Lou met friends who came with him to Vermont in 1970 to join the back to the land movement, and a whole new community that he deeply loved and who loved him in return. Lou, Willie, and friends loved telling stories of the often harsh, always hilarious, and wonderful times they had trying to burn green wood to heat the uninsulated “Slum Goddess” shack, cook a frozen solid turkey in a wood stove on Thanksgiving morning, help the neighbor butcher a pig in the dead of winter, grow and smoke pot, avoid the cops and the draft, learn crafts and professions, and living the hippie life.
Lou’s great passion was traveling, and not as a tourist. He traveled to Europe, Iceland, North Africa, India, Tibet, Nepal, China, Bhutan, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Myanmar, Indonesia, the Philippines, Jordan, Syria, East Africa, Cuba, Panama, Ethiopia, Papua New Guinea, and more. He loved participating in festivals and living local life, especially in India and Nepal. He had two audiences with the Dalai Lama, as well as several holy men around South Asia. He became a photographer, and was known for his intimate, empathic photos of the places he visited and people he met, and sharing them with many.
Lou’s move to Washington in 1983 led him to a new community of deep friendships and chosen family. Lou became a radiology technician. He worked in the emergency room of Harborview Hospital, the level one northwest regional trauma center in Seattle. His coworkers and friends remember him for his patience, caring, and expert taking of X-rays at difficult angles. They were impressed at his ability to work at his very physically demanding job until age 74. He was elected UFCW Union Shop Steward at Harborview, and was very proud of that.
In 2016, Lou was inspired to travel to North Dakota and stand with the water protectors of the Sioux Nation to challenge the building of an oil pipeline that threatened the water and the way of life there. He had great passion for the struggle and lived there for six weeks, recognized as a wise elder of the protest community.
Lou was a great storyteller, raconteur, humorist, wise man, and counselor. A friend wrote on Facebook, “His place in White Center was known as the Free State, and it was a place of intelligent conversation, compassion, and free-thinking.” Lou often mentioned in one way or another that he loved his family and friends, and tried in his own way to alleviate the suffering of others, either by listening to them, supplying the beer etc., and/or sharing what he could, either financial, emotional, or intellectual, with the clan that he loved. And we loved him.
Louis T. Corbett is survived by his beloved brother William B. Corbett of Saxtons River, Vt., cousins, and chosen family and friends all over the world, as well as his photographs.
Celebrations of Lou’s life are being planned in Seattle and Vermont this summer.