Louise Billotte passed peacefully in her home on January 10, 2021 in San Francisco. The only daughter of Morris and Evelyn Friedel, Louise spent her early years in New Jersey.
She graduated from Antioch College with a Degree in Language Studies and traveled extensively throughout Europe and the United States. In 1968, Louise met her beloved husband, William Billotte, at Drop City in Colorado.
In 1970, she became a mother to her son, Julian Billotte, as well as her stepson Dhugal Billotte. She spent the next years living in New York and New Mexico. In 1975, she moved to San Francisco with her family.
Louise had a rich and varied career. In the seventies, she worked as a journalist for both WBAI in New York and KPFA in Berkeley, where she produced shows and interviewed such luminaries as Buckminster Fuller and Murray Bookchin.
In the early eighties, she was the manager of Lilith, a radical feminist women’s theater group for several years. She then transitioned into a career as a booking agent for well-known Jazz musicians, including legends Randy Weston and Sheila Jordan. She was also key in the managing of Building 116 on the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, a thriving arts community.
The last decade of her life was devoted to what she considered her true calling, Poetry. Louise was a Buddhist and a devoted practioner of Tai Chi. She was a student of Y.C. Chang at the Wen Wu School of Martial Arts.
She was preceded in death by her husband William Billotte and is survived by her son, Julian Billotte, daughter-in-law Anna Wiziarde, and her grandchildren, Charlotte and Leo Billotte, as well as her stepson, Dhugal Billotte, and his wife, Chelsea Autrey. She will be deeply missed.