LA CONNER, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Tom Robbins, a local author known for capturing the world in odd, humorous ways, has died at the age of 92.
His death was confirmed by his friend and publishing executive Craig Popelars, who said the author died on the morning of Sunday, Feb. 9, at his home in La Conner.
Robbins adopted the Pacific Northwest as his home, coming to live in the area beginning in the early 1960s and moving to La Conner in 1970.
He wrote nine books along with a story collection and a novella during his career, often using Seattle as a common setting for his works. His 1976 novel “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues” was adapted into a film in 1993, where a woman played by Uma Thurman uses her abnormally large thumbs to hitchhike across the country.
Robbins often visited Bellingham for book tours at Village Books and hosted multiple events at Boundary Bay Brewery in downtown Bellingham. Boundary Bay’s events included a 2009 reading of his novella “B is for Beer” which explores the beer industry and centers on a Seattle family.
Village Books co-owner Paul Hanson said that Bellingham loved him, and he loved them right back. He described Robbins as a cool cat with a laid back, southern attitude and a humor that came from left field.
“[His jokes] would make you stop and think,” Hanson said. “He was just a gem of a human being.”
Robbins is said to have captured the spirit of the 1960s, writing about feminist ideas and well as psychedelics in books that made social commentary in unflinching, jovial ways. Other novels he wrote include “Skinny Legs and All,” “Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas,” “Jitterbug Perfume,” “Another Roadside Attraction” and “Still Life with Woodpecker,” a love story which takes place inside a pack of Camel cigarettes.
A long-time pen pal of Robbins, Christian Martin remembers his friend as a collector of vintage circus posters that would send letters with strange stamps and zany language. He recalls the parting advice that Robbins gave him on a visit to La Conner.
“His last words to me were ‘stay weird,'” Martin said. “I’ll treasure that forever, and now I feel obliged, like, ‘okay, I gotta do it for Tom.'” Calling it a precious artifact, Martin said that he has a business card from Robbins, where on the back it says: part time Buddha, menace to society and admirer of clouds.
Martin added that Robbins loved the Skagit Valley, from the mystic painters and counterculture that manifested as a Fishtown colony and Zen Buddhism to the weather Robbins once described as “Raindrops, on the other hand – introverted, feral, buddhistically cool – behave as if they live here. Which, of course, they do.”
His third wife Alexa in a Facebook post said that Tom passed away peacefully surrounded by family and pets. Alexa added that he wants to be remembered by people reading his books and donations may be made to Hospice of the Northwest, The Museum of Northwest Art, The La Conner Swinomish Library and SPOT Animal Rescue.
