Billie Letts

Billie Dean Letts (née Gipson; May 30, 1938 – August 2, 2014) was an American novelist and educator. She was a professor at Southeastern Oklahoma State University.

She was married to professor-turned-actor Dennis Letts until his death in 2008. The couple had three children: Dana, Tracy Letts, a playwright, and Shawn (a jazz musician/composer).

Letts was born as Billie Dean Gipson in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the daughter of Virginia M. (Barnes), a secretary, and William C. Gipson. She married Dennis Letts, a professor and actor, in 1958. Dennis Letts served as his wife's editor for her own novels. He died of lung cancer in Tulsa on February 22, 2008, aged 73.

Billie Letts died in a Tulsa hospital from pneumonia on August 2, 2014, aged 76. She had recently been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.

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