“Fight for what you love, not against what you hate.”

If there were a philosophy that could accurately portray how Chumash elder Roberta Cordero lived her life, that would be the one. And it’s the reason she was a powerful activist into her 80s, even after a catastrophic stroke that left her largely unable to speak.

She let her love — for her people, and for the planet and all its creatures — carry her. Roberta Cordero had a voice until the day she passed into spirit, and it was a voice of great love.

The Coastal Chumash community, which includes family, friends, allies and advocates, lost a precious elder, mother, grandmother and auntie on Feb. 16, 2024.

Roberta Reyes Cordero, 82, passed peacefully, surrounded by her five children, extended family, and her closest friends, who stood vigil with her in loving ceremony.

Her passing, mirroring the way Roberta lived her extraordinary life, was dignified, deeply loving, and on her own terms.

Roberta was born in Santa Barbara on April 24, 1942 to Robert and Lucy Cordero, and raised, along with her brother Rick, primarily on Santa Barbara’s Clark Road close to her grandparents, many Cordero and Reyes cousins, uncles and other relatives.

She attended Notre Dame Catholic elementary school and Bishop High School in Santa Barbara. Upon graduation from Bishop High in 1960, she began her undergraduate work at Seattle University, where she met her future husband, Charles “Chuck” Johnston.

They were married in 1962 at Santa Barbara’s Old Mission, which was founded in the 16th century by Roberta’s Spanish ancestors and built by her Chumash ancestors.

She and Charles had six children, including her eldest daughter Laura, who died shortly after birth. They raised their five surviving children in Seattle. In 1986, she divorced Charles and pursued the completion of her education, which had been put on hold to raise her family.

Throughout her life, Roberta’s voice was her superpower. She was a talented singer who in her youth sang at Fiesta events in her hometown of Santa Barbara, and later sang in the choirs at Seattle’s St. James Cathedral and St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, where she served as cantor for the 11 o’clock mass for many years.

She obtained a master of arts in music and was a magna cum laude graduate of University of Washington School of Law.

In addition to singing, she used her voice as a lifelong advocate for a world without nukes, in the fight for clean air, soil, water, and healthy communities.

She worked tirelessly for the rights of indigenous nations everywhere, advocating for and gaining not only seats at the table, but occasionally flipped a few tables that needed flipping. 

Roberta always deeply missed her hometown and was finally able to return permanently to Santa Barbara in 1996. Shortly after, she helped lead the Chumash community’s efforts toward the revitalization of their traditional ocean going canoe culture.

Along with other members of the Coastal Chumash community, Roberta co-founded the Chumash Maritime Association, which has reconnected new generations of indigenous youth to millennia-old traditional marine ecological knowledge, knowledge that was in danger of being lost.

While also working full-time at the Community Mediation Program, she helped establish two seats on the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council specifically for Chumash community members. Roberta’s voice and advocacy were vital to the establishment of the recently-ratified Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary.

Roberta is survived by her five children Paul (Jackie), Julia, Robert “Bob” (Caitlin), Elise and Magdalena “Lena” (Kris); nine grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and her large, loving, extended family of cousins, aunties, uncles, and countless dear friends and respected colleagues all over the world.

Roberta directly empowered so many of us to continue her lifelong works of love, and so we shall.

Kiyaqinalin, and rest in power, beautiful soul.