Kathleen Saragosa was born on Jan. 26, 1938 to Gertrude Nebrich Corkery and Cornelius Corkery in Buffalo, New York.

She was born on what would soon be called the “Great Winter Storm,” on which the snow downfall was so heavy it caused part of the bridge over Niagara Falls to pull away from its anchoring on the U.S. side of the falls. As a result, hers was a home birth.

As a young child Kathleen and her older brother Peter lived with their parents in Ontario, Canada, where her father was a cattle rancher. At a young age, her parents divorced and Kathleen moved back into her maternal grandparent’s home in Buffalo.

As a precocious child, Kathleen enrolled in first grade at the age of 4 years. She was surrounded by many aunts, uncles and cousins with whom she remained close her entire life.

When her mother remarried the family moved to Carpinteria, where her stepfather had secured employment on the oil derricks as a welder. They initially stayed one summer at the Carpinteria State Park, while looking for a piece of property to build a home.

Her parents were able to purchase a lot on Holly Avenue where they built a small three-bedroom house. Here, Kathleen would grow up and receive her family from Buffalo each year, as they would drive across country to escape the cold winters.

Kathleen attended Aliso School, which was segregated at this time. She was one of the few non-Hispanic children at this school. She, like many of the Mexican students, suffered the indignation of being sprayed with chemicals for lice, having hair checks, and hearing disparaging comments about the students and their families.

Kathleen often stated that she felt the strong embrace of many of her fellow students, and liked the strong sense of family and caring they exemplified and shared with her.

During her summers, Kathleen would go back to New York and took her first solo flight to Buffalo at the age of 11. She was also able to change planes unescorted in Chicago to catch the last leg of the flight to Buffalo.

When Kathleen was a junior in high school, she found herself a tour guide for her aunts and uncles when they decided to drive from Buffalo to Carpinteria to Mexico City for the holidays. She was tasked with doing all the Spanish translation, map reading, and brokering of hotels during their trip.

They were in Mexico City on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Kathleen said she had never seen such devout pilgrims, where thousands of Mexicans people crawled on their knees to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. She also said many of the Mexicans told her how beautiful she spoke Spanish.

During high school she would also go back and work at her uncle’s restaurant in Allegheny State Park. This park was rented to the state of New York, by the Seneca Indian clan, and remains part of the Seneca Reservation. Her family continues to own a large farmhouse and property adjacent to this park.

Kathleen graduated from Carpinteria Senior High with honors and won a full scholarship to Immaculate Heart College, a liberal arts college in Hollywood. Here she studied with Sister Corita Kent, who would later become known as the artist Corita.

The Immaculate Heart nuns were progressive and liberal leaning. They did not support the Vietnam war, and were advocates of both the Civil Rights movements, the Catholic Worker press, and supportive of the United Farm Workers.

Thus began Kathleen’s political and spiritual growth as an adult Catholic, which parallels the development of Liberation Theology and of her own experience of having grown up in a segregated school and within a Mexican American community.

Kathleen married Joseph Saragosa in 1958, and moved to San Jose, California, where he was finishing his undergraduate work at SJSU in criminology. She lived there for three years before returning to Carpinteria with her daughters Marie and Patricia in tow.

Kathleen continued her studies in early childhood development and in accounting at both SBCC and UCSB. She worked as a bookkeeper for many large and small businesses in Santa Barbara. She also participated in her daughter’s school, Mount Carmel as a room mother, lunch volunteer, art instructor during career week, and at various other fundraising activities.

She was fiercely devout in her commitment to having her daughters educated, and sent all girls, including her last daughter Rachel, through the UC system and funded their international education goals as well.

Many sacrifices were made for their education. She took pride in reading their papers, teacher comments, and reading their books. She was interested in psychology, art history, the classics, and politics.

Both Kathleen and Joseph were active in supporting Catholic Charities, Sudan Relief, water well building in Africa, and the G.I. Forum in raising funds for Latino youth scholarships. As long-time parishioners of St. Joseph’s Church she helped found the support group for young mothers and in the Eucharistic Adoration.

Like her kin, Kathleen loved to travel, often taking her girls along with their grandmother, across country in their camper the Santa Maria for the summer.

Often an eight-day trip would turn into a two-week drive, as they would venture off the northern route or Route 66 due to unforeseen pit-stops to see pow-wows, museum exhibits, cave drawings and beautiful camping stops.

Her collect calls to Joseph often frustrated him, and his only demand would be that she arrive in Buffalo, before his flight landed. She was also able to enjoy visiting her dad in Canada, living for a summer in Oaxaca, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

May was always the month of wanderlust when the wind would pick up and Kathleen would have the urge to get in the car and drive.

Until her rapid decent into Parkinson’s disease, Kathleen was an exemplary daughter, mother and grandmother. She always had the best interests of her daughters and grandchildren in mind.

She would cook, sew costumes, bake, and sponsor the kid’s projects when needed. Her faith was never failing. She wanted her daughters to contribute something to making this world a better place, and her example is well recognized.

She is preceded in death by her parents; brother Peter; and husband Joseph. She will be greatly missed by her daughter Marie, and her daughters Devin and Natalie (Harris-Saragosa ), Patricia (Ruben) and daughter Jacqueline Keoseyan Zaragoza, and daughter Rachel (Carlos) and their children Katherine, Emily and Joshua (Zaragoza-Wazny).

In closing we would like to thank all of our friends and family members for their generous emotional support during this time. We are also indebted to Hospice of Santa Barbara VNA for their guidance as this allowed us to care for our mother at home. A special thanks to Dorota L. for her guidance as well.

In thinking of our mother Kathleen, please dedicate a prayer in her name and one for world as well, especially for those who are most in need.
The Saragosa Girls, Patricia, Rachel and Marie.

A funeral mass will take place at 10 a.m. Friday, March 20 at Saint Joseph Mission Chapel, 4691 Seventh St., Carpinteria. Interment will follow the mass at Carpinteria Cemetery 1501 Cravens Lane, Carpinteria.

Funeral arrangements entrusted to Pueblo Del Rey Funeral Services.