Lillie and Chester Burnett, 1969
Lillie Burnett and
Mark Hoffman at A Tribute to Howlin' Wolf,
Chicago Blues Festival, June 10, 2000 (Wolf's 90th
birthday)
Picture © 2000 by
Mark Hoffman
R.I.P. Lillie Burnett
August 12, 1925 — May
11, 2001
Howlin’ Wolf’s widow, Lillie Burnett, passed away on
Friday, May 11, 2001, ending one of the great love stories
in blues history. Born Lillian Handley in Livingston,
Alabama on August 12, 1925, Lillie moved in 1950 to Chicago,
where she worked in the dietary department of a hospital.
One evening in 1957, her brother and a cousin convinced her
to accompany them to Sylvio’s nightclub to hear Wolf. He
noticed her, introduced himself, talked with her, and
offered to drive her home. Her brother and cousin followed
in their car to make sure Wolf’s intentions were honorable.
Wolf asked for her phone number, but she gave him the wrong
one because she didn’t want to get involved with a bluesman,
figured Wolf had lots of girlfriends already, and thought
her mother would disapprove. Wolf ran into her several times
in the following months and pursued a relationship until she
relented. Years later she said, “I'm so happy I did!”
Wolf and Lillie lived together for six years before they
married in March, 1964, and from all indications, though
both Lillie and Wolf had been married at least once before,
Lillie was the great love of his life. In an interview in
1968, Wolf said, “She was a flower the first day I seen her,
and as far as I’m concerned, she’s a flower now.” Lillie
provided a traditional home life and managed the couple’s
finances wisely. She also encouraged him to go to night
school to learn to read and write. “I married him to help
him, because that’s what he needed,” she said. Wolf told
Lillie, “I saw good in you the first night I laid eyes on
you.” He also told her, “I wished I had had you the first
day I ever howled.”
When Wolf developed kidney problems after a car
accident, she learned to run a dialysis machine for him at
home, and she and his bandleader, Eddie Shaw, arranged
Wolf’s performance schedule so he could be near a VA
hospital for dialysis while on the road. After Wolf died in
January 1976. Lillie was one of the most active widows of
any bluesman, appearing at festivals and events across the
country. She helped induct Wolf into the Rock ’n Roll Hall
of Fame in 1992, unveiled a U.S. postage stamp of him in
1994, unveiled a statue of him at his home town of West
Point, MS, in 1997, and presided at a tribute to him on his
90th birthday at the Chicago Blues Festival in 2000.
Lillie said, “He was a kind, loving person to me. You
had to know him to understand him, that’s for sure. If he
liked you, he liked you. And if he didn’t he’d tell you just
looking you dead in your eyes. That’s the kind of guy he
was.” Lillie was the kind of gal who was strong and gentle
enough to make Wolf's life complete. May she rest in peace.
