Billie Mae Dawes

World traveler, avid gardener and quilter, compassionate yet firm counselor, and beloved wife, mother, sister and friend Billie Dawes passed away on March 25, 2024 in Sacramento, surrounded by loved ones after a 10-year battle with lymphoma and breast cancer. She was 73 years old. 

Billie was born in Sacramento, the daughter of Dona (Burns) and Donald Hawkins, and remained a lifetime resident. A graduate of Highlands High School, Billie focused on academics and music, and was a violinist in the Sacramento Youth Orchestra. A lifelong learner, she re-entered college in her 40s as a full-time working student and earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and master’s in Psychology-Marriage, Family and Child Counseling, both from Chapman University. Billie also completed instruction and training in hypnotherapy at The Hypnotherapy Training Institute of Northern California and was certified as a Hypnotherapist in 2006. Billie retired from the County of Sacramento in 2010 having spent her career working in the Departments of Human Assistance, and Health and Human Services as a case worker and counselor for Senior Services, Child Protective Services, CalWORKs, and Alcohol and Drug Services. 

At age 20, Billie traveled Europe with a friend and a passion for travel resulted. Billie visited 47 countries, and many states. Personal highlights of her travels included a 2019 cruise of China and Asia with dear friends, hiking to the ancient city of Petra, Jordan, and sailing around Cape Horn during gale force storm conditions. In her travels, Billie was a self-anointed cat ambassador, determined to win the heart of every feline she encountered. Her successes were legion. Billie also loved reading, gardening, hiking, kayaking, camping/RVing, and she took up piano lessons at age 60, achieving grade 3 status. A lifelong sewing enthusiast, Billie began quilting lessons 25 years ago. She made dozens of quilts and blankets for friends and family to commemorate important life events. Billie also made and donated hundreds of quilts to foster youth, children’s hospitals, veterans, and victims of natural disasters.  

Billie never passed up a wine she wouldn’t “just taste,” a fabric she wouldn’t buy, a pretty weed in the garden that couldn’t be nurtured to its full potential, or an opportunity to go bye-bye. She reserved an entire year’s allotment of cuss words for annual holiday candy-making and never-ending seam-ripping. Billie’s influence and light will continue to shine and be long felt by those whose lives she touched, assisted, supported, and loved. This magnificently talented, unique woman, already sorely missed, is survived by her beloved wife of 36 years, Kathryn Briem; daughters Bridget Dawes (Ed Goldthorpe) and Kristen Dawes (Jacob Masters); brothers Rodney Johnson and Richard Johnson (Diem); sister and brother-in-law Rick and Karen Maxson; mother-in-law Margaret Briem; 5 nieces and nephews, and Jack, the (seam) ripper. Billie was pre-deceased by her parents. The family wishes to express their deepest gratitude to Billie’s medical teams at Kaiser Permanente Roseville and Stanford Hospital Oncology. Per Billie’s wishes, there will be no ceremony. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be sent in memory of Billie M. Dawes to Ronald McDonald House Palo Alto (rmhcbayarea.org/give) or Sacramento Loaves and Fishes (sacloaves.org/donate-information/).