Louise Creston, 1 of 1st Graham Dancers, Dies

Louise Creston, an original member of the Martha Graham dance group and widow of composer Paul Creston, died Wednesday in a retirement home in Rancho Bernardo. She was 85.

Creston was devoted to the career of her husband, known worldwide for his modern concert music, and spent most of her life touring with him, said relatives and friends. In fact, she once choreographed a Paul Creston work for the Martha Graham troupe.

Her own brief but colorful years as a dancer and choreographer in the early 1930s, which included a Radio City Music Hall performance of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring,” greatly influenced her husband’s work, said Patricia Barr of Los Angeles, a friend of Creston’s.

During their 58-year marriage, Creston developed an intense love for music and the arts, and, after her husband’s death in 1985, donated his works to the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said David Lasser, a close friend in Rancho Bernardo.

‘Love for Students’

“A wife can be very important, even decisive, in her husband’s career,” said Lasser, 87. “Mrs. Creston was so supportive of Paul. Her grasp of music and her love for students and performers in the musical world were phenomenal.”

Louise Creston, a Rancho Bernardo resident for 14 years, was a member of that community’s Auxiliary Council of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra and a patron of the city’s Youth Symphony.

Creston was born Louise Gotto on Aug. 26, 1903, in Yonkers, N.Y. She married Paul Creston in 1927 and two years later joined the Graham troupe. The Crestons moved in 1968 to Ellensburg, Wash., where the composer taught music at Central Washington University. Upon his retirement in 1975, they moved to Rancho Bernardo.

Survivors include two sons, Joel Anthony of Fairfield, Conn., and Timothy William of Tucson, Ariz.; a sister, Theresa Negri of Yorktown, N.Y.; a brother, Anthony Gotto of Yonkers, N.Y., and four grandchildren.

A memorial Mass will be said at 9 a.m. Saturday at the San Rafael Catholic Church in Rancho Bernardo. Inurnment will be June 11 in Hartdale, N.Y. Contributions may be sent to Paul Creston Collections, Conservatory of Music, University of Missouri, Kansas City, Mo., 64110.