Born Jan. 15, 1947
Newark, New Jersey
Died Jan. 22, 2024
Seattle, Washington
Details of services
Celebrations of Lou’s life are being planned in Seattle and Vermont for this summer.
Louis Thomas Corbett “Lou” of The Free Republic of Corbett, Seattle Washington and formerly of Westminster, Vermont died from cancer peacefully in his home surrounded by his friends and chosen family, who were also his tireless, loving caregivers on January 22, 2024. He was 77 years old.
Lou was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Marguerite and Louis Corbett. Lou and his younger brother William “Billy”, later known as “Willie” experienced an iconic 1950s-60s New Jersey, Catholic, Italian childhood and adolescence, fiercely loving and protecting each other and also being loved and protected by Marguerite and her extended family. 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, life-long friends and community. He was instrumental in starting a food co-op there. He traveled to Europe, Iceland and Morocco with his partner and developed his passion for traveling which would shape the rest of his life. While at Scranton, Lou was part of a group of Scranton students that were recruited to keep a Black Catholic school in Alexandria, Louisiana from closing. They were the teachers, coaches, janitors, etc. for a year. This was a formative experience for Lou and helped mold him into an even more empathetic, insightful teacher.
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. He had an eye for art and crafts and brought home many beautiful items to furnish his home and share with friends.
In 1983, Lou obtained his dream job through a fellow traveler, teaching and leading student groups to Southeast Asia from Stanford High School in Redmond, Washington. Lou led months-long student trips. He mentored numerous students, several of whom say he significantly changed their lives for the better, and became his life-long friends.
Lou’s move to Washington in 1983 led him to a new community of deep friendships and chosen family. When the Southeast Asia program at Stanford ended, Lou became a Radiology Technician. He worked in the emergency room of Harborview Hospital, the Level One northwest regional trauma center in Seattle to serve his community and support “his travel habit,” as he would say. His co-workers 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 created a beautiful home in the White District of Seattle and declared it the Free Republic of Corbett. His home was filled with unique vintage Asian art, furniture and humorous ephemera. On a bare suburban lot with a small bungalow, he constructed a communal home with land sculpting, numerous beautiful and unique plants, blackberry bushes, trees, and vegetables, and art inside and out. He raised chickens and ducks. He shared his home with friends and co-workers. His beloved dog Sufi, a rescued greyhound, was his faithful companion until near the end.
Lou was a great storyteller, raconteur, humorist, wise man and counsellor. 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 at the head of the table was always one of the most intelligent men of any of us who sat with him had ever known. It was always wonderful to spend time with him and be part of his family.” Lou often mention in one way or another was 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, Vermont, cousins and chosen family and friends all over the world, as well as his photographs.
