Legendary author Tom Robbins, known for writing “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues” and other novels in La Conner, died Sunday, Feb. 9 at the age of 92, surrounded by family.
Robbins’ wife, Alexa Robbins, announced her husband’s death on Facebook, noting the beloved author was “brave, funny and sweet” and had “an eternally youthful spirit.”
“As I steward his novels into the future, I will continue to support our shared values,” Alexa wrote. “His message of hope and ‘joy in spite of everything’ is even more valuable today.”
Described as “the most dangerous writer in the world today” by Italy’s Corriere della Sera, Robbins’ “seriocomedies” came to define the psychedelic-laced spirit of a generation. His eight novels balance humor with philosophy, spiritualism and obscure-yet-astute insight.
“What I ultimately take away from Robbins is wisdom,” Seattle Times journalist Patrick MacDonald wrote in 2008. “He imparts wisdom by way of his characters, his plots, his humor and the real historic figures he evokes.”
Despite a reputation as a Pacific Northwestern writer, Robbins was born in North Carolina in 1932. The author would later describe his family as “kind of a Southern Baptist version of ‘The Simpsons’” to Bookpage Magazine in 2000.
Robbins began writing at age 5, though his renegade spirit was evident from an equally young age. According to Rolling Stone, he was pulled out of public school for “general naughtiness,” then sent to a military academy.
Robbins was kicked out of school for a second time while attending Washington and Lee University. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in the ’50s and was sent to work as a meteorologist in South Korea, where he’d become a “lifelong devotee of Asian culture” according to The Seattle Times. After being discharged, Robbins finished his degree in Richmond, Virginia, where he also worked as a copy editor for The Richmond Times-Dispatch.
The following decade, Robbins traded Jim Crow-era Appalachia for Puget Sound. He landed in Seattle in 1962 with the intent to earn an M.A. at the Far Eastern Institute of the University of Washington. But Robbins was hired by The Seattle Times instead; there, he’d hone his authorial voice and earn a reputation as “the Hells Angel of Art Criticism.”
The ’60s brought about two other landmark events: Robbins’ first LSD trip (which he’d later compare to “a cathedral made of honey and mathematics”), and his big break as an author. In 1966, the publishing house Doubleday contacted him about writing a book of art criticism. Instead, Robbins pitched a novel that would eventually become his first book, “Another Roadside Attraction.”
Robbins meandered further north to La Conner in 1970 and remained in his house on the hill — known lovingly as “Villa de Jungle Girl” — for the remainder of his life. “Another Roadside Attraction” was published the following year; the book became a cult hit, and the Los Angeles Times proclaimed Robbins the “new Mark Twain.”
Robbins published new work about every five years from that point on. He eventually penned 12 books: eight novels, a story collection, a novella and a memoir. Compared to other counterculture, “hippie” authors of his era, Robbins was distinguished by lyrical prose and careful word choice. He urged other writers to remember that “language is not the frosting, it’s the cake.”
Robbins’ 1976 hit, “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues,” followed the adventures of “a beautiful bisexual model with freakishly large thumbs” and was adapted into a film in 1993. “Still Life with Woodpecker,” published in 1980, was “a sort of a love story that takes place inside a pack of Camel cigarettes” and reached No. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list.
Despite a penchant for the outlandish, Robbins approached absurdity with the mindset of a mystic. “Humor can be both a form of wisdom and a means of survival,” he said in an interview with Reality Sandwich. “A comic sensibility is often a cosmic sensibility, for it can open doors in consciousness that are closed to the sober and prudent.”
Throughout his life and career, Robbins would travel widely, marry multiple women and father three sons. He met Alexa, a psychic and yoga teacher, in the 1980s; the couple married in 1994 and remained together for 36 years. They turned their La Conner home into “an art gallery with a subspecialty in lurid traveling carnival banners featuring freaks, beautiful women and alligators” according to The Seattle Times.
Robbins cultivated a devoted fanbase worldwide, but he was especially beloved by his adopted hometown. On Sept. 2, 2023, the town of La Conner crowned him “king for a day.” The author paraded downtown First Street with Alexa, who said in her Feb. 9 Facebook post: “The celebration was the best kind of memorial because he was there to enjoy it.”
“Tom Robbins Day was more than just, ‘Oh, here’s this writer I like, let’s go see someone famous,'” said Christian Martin, who previewed the event for Cascadia Daily News in August 2023. “It was more like, ‘I want to pay homage to this person that had such a deep impact on me, and my philosophy, and my worldview and my life.”
Martin said Robbins is “a critical cog in the lineage of our local counterculture and rebellious artistic legacy.” The duo have been pen pals since the ’90s, and Martin still remembers the last words Robbins spoke to him: “He turned around, gave me a thumbs up and he said: ‘Stay weird,'” he recalled.
Donations in Robbins’ honor can be made to The Museum of Northwest Art, The La Conner Swinomish Library, SPOT Animal Rescue, and Hospice of the Northwest, where Robbins was cared for by “devoted caregivers” before he died, Alexa noted in her post.
In lieu of a service, she wrote that Robbins wants “people remember him by reading his books.”
“If you open one of his novels, you’ll still find him there,” Alexa continued. “He’ll be laughing, dancing and sharing his crazy wisdom with you.”
Cocoa Laney is CDN’s lifestyle editor; reach her at cocoalaney@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 128.
