Colleen Kirst: September 14, 1924 – December 21, 2023
By Montecito Journal   |   January 16, 2024

Beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother Colleen Kirst passed peacefully into heaven on December 21, 2023, at the age of 99. A brilliant, beautiful woman inside and out, Colleen devoted her life to God, family, country, and community. Colleen’s life history is a classic American story of faith and hard work resulting in success, but she […]

Gwendolyn Strong Foundation
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 9, 2024

You’d be hard-pressed to find a local nonprofit that brought its outsized quest to fruition more speedily than did the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation, which in its six short years of existence has already accomplished two major goals. Heartbroken but determined to make a difference when their young daughter was diagnosed with the rare neurological disease […]

 

Recently Trending

More from Montecito

In Memoriam
By MJ Readers and Staff   |   January 2, 2024

Irma Jurkowitz Irma Jurkowitz – a local philanthropist and dear wife of husband Morrie Jurkowitz – had been a resident of Montecito for more than 50 years, and in that time quietly made a lasting mark on the community she loved. The private Jurkowitz Family Foundation is a funding source for various charity projects, and […]

Casa del Herrero Holiday Soirée with a Capital Announcement
By Joanne A Calitri   |   December 26, 2023

The much looked forward to Casa del Herrero “Home for the Holidays”evening was held at the organization’s rare jewel outdoor area – its Spanish Patio and Blue and White Garden off the formal living room – on Saturday, December 9. The 150 guests were treated to the blissful Spanish guitar of Chris Fossek, while they […]

Santa Barbara Rescue Mission Women’s Auxiliary Annual Holiday Tea for Bethel House
By Joanne A Calitri   |   December 26, 2023

The Santa Barbara Rescue Mission (SBRM) Women’s Auxiliary (WA) held its annual Bethel House Christmas Tea for its women in recovery program on Wednesday, December 13 at the home of Susan Hughes. Dianne Davis, Hospitality Chair, organized the event, and Kirsten Walters, Membership Chair, organized the activities for the event, including the prayers, singing Christmas […]

Helena Mason Art Gallery Holiday Party
By Joanne A Calitri   |   December 26, 2023

Natalie Olivas,owner-director of the Helena Mason Art Gallery, held an impromptu holiday party open house on Wednesday, December 13, to promote local event professionals, the gallery as an event space for rent, and the art on the walls by Pedro de la Cruz, Chris Gocong, Bob Hernandez, and Rod Lathim. The placement of the art […]

Family Service Agency
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 26, 2023

Seniors experiencing depression or related mental health challenges have a new resource to help them retain their independence and improve quality of life thanks to a recently-launched program from Family Service Agency (FSA). PEARLS – an acronym for the Program to Encourage Active, Rewarding Lives – utilizes an evidence-based approach to reduce symptoms of depression […]

Advertisement
  • Woman holding phone

    Support the
    Santa Barbara non-profit transforming global healthcare through telehealth technology

  • Having a Ball
    By Richard Mineards   |   December 19, 2023

    Novelist Jane Austen would have been in her element at the Music Academy’s Lehmann Hall when the Miraflores campus’ creative Auxiliary hosted the Aux Ball: Celebrating the Eras with 120 guests in their Regency finery, many donning tiaras, raising around $50,000 towards the SING! choral program for youngsters from first to ninth grade. Mally Chakola, […]

    Something to Celebrate A-boot
    By Richard Mineards   |   December 19, 2023

    Opera Santa Barbara took over the Paseo Nuevo’s Center Stage Theater when it staged Xavier Montsalvatge’s charming El Gato con Botas with singers from the Chrisman Studio Artists. Puss in Boots, to give it its English title, was a purr-fect production with director of the studio, Tim Accurso, on piano for the hour-long show, mezzo-soprano […]

    Read more...

    A Tea-riffic Time
    By Richard Mineards   |   December 19, 2023

    To the historic Santa Barbara Club when Lobero Theatre Associates hosted its annual Christmas tea for 60 guests. The bounteous bash, co-chaired by Leslie Haight and Emily Johnson, focused on the organization’s youth events, including It’s Magic!, the Nebula Dance Company, and musician Derek Douget, a New Orleans musician who visits schools in the area.  […]

    The Sound of Flamenco
    By Richard Mineards   |   December 19, 2023

    Fiesta may be long over, but flamenco enthusiasts thronged to the Lobero for dancer Maria Bermudez’ Sonidos Gitanos, a 90-minute show showcasing the art of flamenco. Santa Barbara-based Bermudez, who was named an official Flamenco Ambassador by her hometown of Jerez de La Frontera in 2022, has promoted the dance art for more than 30 […]

    Island Life
    By Richard Mineards   |   December 19, 2023

    Carpinteria actor Kevin Costner and singer Jewel are reportedly an item. After the Oscar winner’s acrimonious divorce from wife Christine Baumgartner, he and Jewel were having fun on Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson’s private Caribbean Island, Necker, in the British Virgin Islands. The twosome were on the idyllic locale for a tennis fundraiser for Jewel’s […]

    Keith Roger Austin: May 11, 1944 – September 22, 2023
    By Montecito Journal   |   December 19, 2023

    Keith Roger Austin, beloved father and grandfather, entrepreneur, traveler, lover of life, and rock ‘n’ roller, passed away on September 22, 2023, at the age of 79, after a short battle with cancer. Keith, still working in his studio, listening to vinyl records and was on air with his radio show The Rock Files, doing […]

    Frank Davis Umanzio: September 10, 1934 – December 7, 2023
    By Montecito Journal   |   December 19, 2023

    Frank Davis Umanzio was born on September 10, 1934, in East Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Pasquale and Felicia Umanzio, and passed from this life on December 7, 2023, at age 89. Frank and his beautiful wife Jean met in Medford, Massachusetts, in 1956 and married in 1957, living happily together for 66 years.  In 1974, Frank […]

    Advertisement