During the decades of the 1930s and 1940s, Richard Brautigan was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, moved about the region frequently with his family, and settled in Eugene, Oregon, where he attended junior high school. More information and resources about Brautigan, his life, and work during these decades are below.

Use the links above to access information and resources about Brautigan's life during other decades. "Lulu and Ben Brautigan" reported living at 1945 Fawcetta [sic] Avenue, Tacoma, Washington (Tacoma City Directory).



Lulu Mary (Kehoe) and Bernard Brautigan, Jr. reported living at 1945 Fawcet [sic] Avenue, Apartment 6B, Tacoma, Washington (Tacoma City Directory). The 1930 U. S. Census reported Lulu Mary living in Pierce County, Washington.

"Lulu and Benj Braugitan [sic] / Bernard Brautigan" reported living at 813 East 65th Street, Tacoma, Washington (Tacoma City Directory).

"Lulu and Benj F. Brautigan [sic]" reported living at 2830 South L Street, Tacoma, Washington (Tacoma City Directory).

No listing for Lulu Mary or Bernard Brautigan, Jr. in Tacoma City Directory.

Richard Gary Brautigan born in Tacoma, Washington, only child of Bernard F. Brautigan, Jr. and Lulu Mary Kehoe, known as Mary Lou.

Mary Lou and Bernard were married 18 July 1927, Pierce County, Tacoma, Washington. Their marriage ceremony was performed by Frank A. McGuire, Justice of the Peace, Tacoma, Washington. Witnesses to the marriage were Mrs. William Morisette (Rebecca, Bernard's mother) and Eleanor Morisette (Bernard's step-sister). Their marriage certificate notes Mary Lou's address as 813 East 56th Street, Tacoma, Washington; Bernard's as 314 1/2 East 26th Street, Tacoma, Washington. Both were eighteen.

For more information about Lulu Mary Kehoe, see the Genealogy node.

For more information about about Bernard F. Brautigan, Jr., see the Genealogy node.

Several accounts contend that Bernard and Mary Lou separated prior to Brautigan's birth. For example, Brautigan's daughter, Ianthe, writes in her memoir about her father, You Can't Catch Death, that Mary Lou and Bernard separated before Brautigan was born, before she knew she was pregnant. Mary Lou said, "I left him [Bernard] with everything I owned in a paper sack. I didn't even know that I was pregnant" (Ianthe Brautigan 160).

Mary Lou and Bernard seem to have had little, if any, contact following their separation. Despite Bernard's notation as Brautigan's father on his State of Washington Birth Certificate, which could have been recorded for convenience, it is entirely possible that Bernard never knew of Brautigan's birth; Bernard may have never known that Brautigan was supposed to be his son.

This point is brought out in several obituaries published at the time of Richard Brautigan's death in 1984 where Bernard said he never knew Richard was his son, or even that he had a son named Richard Brautigan. For example, an article, "Bernard Brautigan," in the Detroit Free Press Bernard denies any knowledge of his son, Richard Brautigan.

Only the proof of birth records and confirmation from his ex-wife convinced him. Said a shaken Brautigan, "I don't know nothing about him. He's got the same last name, but why would they wait 45 to 50 years to tell me I've got a son." (Anonymous 14F)

The story comes from a UPI news feed titled "Brautigan" which provides more information about Bernard, Mary Lou, and their son, Richard.

Most accounts note that Brautigan never knew his biological father. Some accounts say that he and his father met only twice, briefly. Ianthe Brautigan said,

My father [Richard Brautigan] said he met [his father] only twice. When he was about four, Mary Lou had pushed him into a room with his father. My father watched him shave without saying a word and then his father handed him a dollar. And the second time my father was about six or seven and passed [his father] on a street near the restaurant where his mother was working as a cashier. His father stopped and said hello and gave him fifty cents. (Ianthe Brautigan 196)

Keith Abbott's recollections were different, yet very similar. Abbott said,

[Brautigan] claimed that he had only met his father twice. The first time was in a hotel where, "I was pushed into this room and a man there gave me a silver dollar to go see a movie." The second time he saw his father he was in a barbershop. "He had shaving cream all over his face and I said who I was and he gave me some money to see a movie that time, too." (Abbott 100)

Surrounding these accounts is the notion of bad feelings between Brautigan's parents. They apparently had little contact during Brautigan's life, a period of nearly fifty years. An article by Mark Barabak in the San Francisco Chronicle, five days after Brautigan's body was discovered, titled "Brautigan's Suicide Rekindles Bad Feelings" quotes Bernard, Mary Lou, and her sister, Evelyn (Keho) Fjetland, regarding who knew what and when. All parties seek to place blame and conflict arises anew.

No listing for Lulu Mary or Bernard Brautigan, Jr. in Tacoma City Directory.

"Mrs. Lulu Brautigan" reported living at 1346 Fawcette [sic] Avenue, Tacoma, Washington (Tacoma City Directory). Assumably, her son, Richard, was with her.

Bernard Frederick Brautigan, Jr. filed a Summons and Complaint with the Pierce County Court seeking divorce from Lulu Mary on the grounds of abandonment. Bernard, plaintiff alleges that Lulu Brautigan, defendent, abandoned him in Tacoma, Washington in April 1934, "and has ever since said date of abandonment lived separate and apart from the plaintiff and still lives so."

Bernard also alleged that "No children have been born as issue of such union," his marriage with Mary Lou.

Mary Lou failed to respond to the court summons and so an order of default was granted Bernard on 25 November 1938. The final divorce decree was issued 17 January 1940.

Later, when he enlisted in the U. S. Army, 4 May 1942, Bernard noted his marital status as "divorced, without dependents."

Allegedly, Mary Lou and Brautigan moved quite a bit during this time, perhaps living with relatives, perhaps living in welfare hotels or other accomodations. They reportedly lived above a candy factory in Tacoma, Washington. Brautigan spent the first eight years of his life in Tacoma, growing up in bleak poverty, neglect, and abuse (Ianthe Brautigan 160, 195, 196).

"Lulu and Arth M. Titland" [sic] reported living at 1004 1/2 South 11th, Apartment 3, Tacoma, Washington (Tacoma City Directory).

Sister, Barbara Jo Titland born. Arthur Martin Titland is regarded as Barbara's father. Titland was the first of several "stepfathers," as Brautigan called them. LEARN more >>>

Barbara Jo Titland's birth certificate notes Arthur Martin Titland as father; Lulu Mary Kehoe as mother. Their address noted as 1004 1/2 South 11th, Tacoma, Washington. Arthur Titland was employed as a truck driver; Lulu Kehoe was a housewife. Barbara Jo noted as Lulu Mary's second child (Richard Brautigan was her first). There is no record that Lulu Mary Kehoe (Brautigan) and Arthur Martin Titland ever married.

Mary Lou and Bernard Brautigan, Jr. separated in April 1934, Bernard filed for divorce 25 November 1938 (original Complaint and Summons filed 21 October), and their divorce was finalized 17 January 1940. So, Barbara was born before Mary Lou was divorced from Bernard Brautigan, Jr.

See also the Genealogy node for more about Lulu Mary Kehoe (Brautigan)(Titland).
"Lulu and Arth M. Titland" [sic] reported living at 1006 South Yakima, Apartment 1, Tacoma, Washington (Tacoma City Directory).

"Lulu and Arth M. Titland" [sic] reported living at 721 Fawcett, Tacoma, Washington (Tacoma City Directory). This is the last listing for Lulu Mary Brautigan (Titland) (Porterfield) (Folston) in the Tacoma City Directory.

Arthur M. Titland begins service in the United States Navy.

Brautigan, growing up in Tacoma, 1940-1943, was surrounded by World War II. Fort Lewis was located nearby, and Tacoma itself was a major staging point for aircraft headed into the Pacific Theater. In one of his notebooks, dated 1976, Brautigan recounts the intersection of his childhood and the war effort.

I was raised on war newsreels. Films taken of bombs falling on Germany . . . of battleships shelling islands in the South Pacific. I was raised on war.

In another notebook, dated 1975, Brautigan remembers "the first time I saw a Flying Fortress."

In the short story "The Ghost Children of Tacoma," collected in Revenge of the Lawn, Brautigan wrote

The children of Tacoma, Washington, went to war in December 1941. It seemed like the thing to do, following in the footsteps of their parents and other grown-ups who acted as if they knew what was happening. . . . Children can kill imaginary enemies just as well as adults can kill real enemies. It went on for years. (73)

Brautigan recounted, in his story, killing imaginary enemies and playing airplane in the house with his sister. Mary Lou married Robert Geoffrey "Tex" Porterfield, 20 January 1943.

See also the Genealogy node for more about Lula Mary Kehoe (Brautigan)(Titland)(Porterfield).

Brautigan, his sister Barbara, and his mother, Mary Lou, moved about the Northwest with Porterfield (Born 9 August 1904, Deadwood, South Dakota; Died 22 March 1969, Reno, Nevada). Porterfield was a cook and apparently traveled around the Northwest following or searching for employment opportunities. Lulu and her children, Barbara and Richard, traveled with Porterfield, circa 1943-1944 when they moved to and settled in Eugene, Oregon.

Robert Creeley described some details of Brautigan's childhood in an obituary, "The Gentle on the Mind Number" written for Brautigan.

Brautigan bore the surname "Porterfield" throughout his childhood, changing to "Brautigan" only just before his graduation in 1953.

In 1944, Mary Lou took Brautigan and his sister, Barbara, to Great Falls, Montana, for a Valentine's Day reunion with Porterfield, who worked there as a kitchen cook. Put off by Porterfield's drunkeness, Mary Lou apparently left Great Falls within two weeks, leaving her children in a rooming house above Porterfield's kitchen. Brautigan often related a story about being left in Great Falls, Montana, with Porterfield.

My mother left me in Great Falls alone with one of my stepfathers, who was a fry cook. I would eat meals at his place and lived in a hotel room by myself. I was seven years old. (Ianthe Brautigan 89)

Rip Torn provided this variation on the story:

Legend has it that Richard's mother was a barmaid, a good-hearted woman with lots of boyfriends. She had a baby boy and an older girl [actually, Richard was older than his sister, Barbara] and sometimes abandoned them for long periods to run and throw a fling. Richard told me that, at about age four, his mother took his sister and left him in the care of a boyfriend, a fry-cook who lived in a corner room of an old hotel and worked in the kitchen below. The fry-cook, having no funds for a baby-sitter, tied Richard to the bedpost. Richard remembered this man with affection. "He gave me enough slack so I could get to the can and, more important, I could get to the corner and look out the window." (Rip Torn 134)

Lawrence Wright reported yet another version of this story, saying both Brautigan and his sister, Barbara, were abandoned in a hotel room in Great Falls, Montana by their mother. Brautigan, age nine, was expected to take care of Barbara, age four. In the mornings, Mr. Porterfield [Brautigan's stepfather], a cook, made breakfast for Brautigan in the hotel restaurant and gave him a dollar. Brautigan and Barbara played in the railroad yards, waving at passengers in passing trains, and skating in their shoes on a frozen pond. Eventually, their mother reclaimed them and took them home to Tacoma, Washington. Soon afterwards they moved to Eugene, Oregon (Lawrence Wright 40).

Keith Abbott related the same story, second hand. He said he was told by Ianthe Brautigan, who said she was told by Brautigan, that both Brautigan and his sister were abandoned in a Great Falls hotel. Brautigan was expected to be the sole support for his sister. They were fed by a sympathetic cook in the hotel. She said her father told her he could not sleep at night, that he stayed awake waiting for his mother to return, and that he suffered from insomnia ever since (Keith Abbott 43). "Robert G. Porterfield and Lulu" reported living at 2235 Hazel Avenue, Salem, Oregon. Porterfield noted as a cook at The Quelle (Salem City Directory. Mary Lou's obituary notes that prior to this move to Eugene, the family lived in Salem, Oregon. April 1
Stepsister Sandra Jean Porterfield born 1 April 1945. Her father was Robert Jeffrey Porterfield.

Attended Grade 5 at Lincoln Elementary School in Eugene, Oregon. Attended Grade 6 at Lincoln Elementary School in Eugene, Oregon. This Grade 6 class photograph shows Brautigan in the top left, rear.

During the school year, Brautigan served as member of Junior Safety Patrol at Lincoln Elementary School in Eugene, Oregon. Brautigan's Junior Safety Patrol Citation listed his name as "Richard Porterfield."
Attended Grade 7 at the Junior High Week Day Church School in Eugene, Oregon. Brautigan's certificate of attendance was signed by his teacher, Mrs. Paden, who filled in his name as "Richard Porterfield."
Attended Grade 8 ***?*** Attended Grade 9 at Woodrow Wilson Junior High School in Eugene, Oregon, 12th and Madison. His courses there included Speech and Language, General Mathematics, Science, Physical Education, Health, and Fine Arts.

The years following World War II were full of poverty and disjunction for Brautigan and his family. His mother and stepfather, Porterfiled, seperated several times; they were divorced on 12 July 1950. According to Robert Creeley, Brautigan was given to Porterfield. Barbara and Sandra Jean stayed with Mary Lou (Robert Creeley 4).

As for the poverty, Brautigan sprinkled numerous accounts throughout his work. For example, in So the Wind Won't Blow It All Away he writes of living with his mother and two sisters in an auto court cabin outside of town. The Brautigan family, too poor to afford their own housing, was placed in the auto court by the Welfare Department (9). In the same novel, Brautigan recounts the poverty of his childhood and how this made him a social outcast at school (93), of being left alone with his sisters while both his mother and stepfather were away, and of staring at the door, waiting for someone to return.

To earn money, Brautigan and his sister collected empty bottles along the roadsides near their home. The poem "The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth's Beer Bottles" (first published in 1957) recounts this effort.