Lasting Memories

Elisabeth Wills
1912-Oct. 19, 2009
Portola Valley, California

Elisabeth Ullman "Babette" Wills died peacefully on Oct. 19 at the age of 97. Ms. Wills was a longtime resident of Portola Valley, living in a hand-built house called Willy Nilly.

Willy Nilly was a gathering place for artists,intellectuals and activists, including Nobel laureate Linus Pauling, United Farm Workers leader Cesar Chavez, and filmmaker Felix Greene, according to family friend Constance Crawford. In the 1960s, author Wallace Stegner and others held a series of meetings at Willy Nilly, resulting in the creation of the Committee for Green Foothills, says Ms. Crawford.

Ms. Wills was born in St. Gobain, France. At the age of 20, she married her first husband, American painter Paul Ullman. The couple lived in Paris during the 1930s, surrounded by a community of artists. Their son, Jacques, was born in 1935.

The advent of World War II forced the family to leave France for the United States in 1940. The couple settled in Connecticut, where Ms. Wills became an American citizen. Mr. Ullman was killed in France in 1944, while on assignment to the Office of Strategic Services.

In 1945 Ms. Wills married Michael Wills. The couple eventually moved to Portola Valley, where they created their home over the next 25 years. Although they lived in an Army surplus hospital tent for the first two years, they entertained frequently, says Ms. Crawford. Their son, David, was born in 1950.

Ms. Wills taught cooking classes, did catering, and fostered a variety of cultural and political causes. For two years the

Willses served as full-time chefs for the Maison Francaise at Stanford University. They celebrated Bastille Day with a large party every July 14. A biography of Ms. Wills, "Babette: Elizabeth Ullman Wills," by Constance Crawford was published in 2005.

Survivors include sons Jacques Ullman of Sausalito and David Wills of Berkeley; sister Camille Bertron of Toulon, France; and two grandchildren. Her husband, Michael Wills, died in 1994.