Reina del Mar Parlor No. 126 of Native Daughters of the Golden West has selected its member Lynn Kirst to portray Saint Barbara, the city’s patron saint, during this year’s Old Spanish Days Fiesta. Kirst was introduced to the public at Casa de la Guerra on April 21.
In a tradition that dates from 1926, each year Reina del Mar Parlor has chosen one of its members to represent Saint Barbara. The parlor was founded in April 1901. The announcement of Saint Barbara coincided with commemoration of the founding of the Santa Barbara Presidio in 1782.
A fourth-generation Californian and resident of Montecito, Kirst graduated from Bishop Garcia Diego High School in Santa Barbara, then earned her BA in the history of art from the University of Southern California.
“Being selected as the 2022 Saint Barbara was a huge surprise,” Kirst said. “My parents were married at Mission Santa Barbara in 1947, and local history has always meant a great deal to me. On a poignant personal note, my presentation as Saint Barbara not only coincides with the 240th birthday of Santa Barbara, but also with the anniversary of my late husband’s death seven years ago.
“As a survivor of both the Thomas Fire in 2017 and the Montecito debris flow in 2018, I could never have imagined then that as a widow facing those disasters alone, my life would be as blessed as it is now with this great honor.”
For Fiesta events, Kirst will be dressed in Saint Barbara’s traditional white gown and scarlet cape, and will wear a golden crown. She will carry the martyr’s palm frond and a golden chalice. For social events, she will wear an ivory Spanish-style floor-length dress and a mantilla.
While completing her undergraduate degree, Kirst participated in the USC Study Abroad program, spending a semester living in Madrid, Spain, where she studied Art History at the Prado Museum. She also completed the two-year graduate program in historic preservation at the USC School of Architecture.
Kirst has been a member of Reina del Mar Parlor since 2009 and has supported its projects. A community volunteer, she is a sustaining member of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art Women’s Board, serves on the legacy council of the Sacramento-based California Rangeland Trust, the advisory boards of Hearts Therapeutic Equestrian Center in Santa Barbara and the Santa Ynez Valley Therapeutic Riding Program, and is a member of the SYV WIGS of People Helping People.
She is a former member of the board of directors of the Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation, Community Arts Music Association (CAMA), and the executive committee of the Sierra Club’s Santa Barbara Group. Sge has served on committees for the Santa Barbara Historical Museum and the Wildling Museum in Solvang.
Kirst is also a member of the Santa Barbara Corral of Westerners International and serves on the design committee at Birnam Wood Golf Club. A lifelong equestrienne, she is a charter member of The Fillies, a women’s riding group founded in 1994.
Kirst’s first career was in museum fundraising, during which she held senior development positions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Laguna Art Museum, and the Southwest Museum.
She was the founding president of Spectrum Tours, a museum travel company she ran for 10 years, providing custom-designed educational trips for cultural institutions. Her clients included the Smithsonian Institution, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Minneapolis Art Institute. Local clients included the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation, and Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.
Kirst is an award-winning nonfiction writer and photographer. She wrote the Trail Talk column for the Montecito Journal for 10 years, and was the editor of “Southwest Cooks! The Tradition of Native American Cuisines,” which won the National Grand Prize of the 1992 Tabasco Community Cookbook Awards.
The Santa Barbara Channel was named for Saint Barbara during the Viscaino expedition in late 1602. In the eighteenth century the royal Spanish presidio fortress (1782) and Mission Santa Barbara (1786) were named in her honor. She is the patroness of protection from lightning and calamity, and is revered by artillerymen, mariners, and architects.
The Native Daughters of the Golden West (NDGW) is a statewide organization founded in 1886. It has a history of contributing to historic preservation, veterans’ welfare, conservation, California mission restoration, the N.D.G.W. Children’s Foundation charity, and college scholarships.
Reina del Mar Parlor No. 126, chartered in Santa Barbara on April 20, 1901, is known for its old Spanish Days Fiesta activities, child welfare work, 100 years of missions preservation, plaque dedications of historic buildings, and civic participation.