On May 1, 2015, Vivian Beatrice Scarbrough passed away peacefully in her home in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Aunt Bea, as everyone knew her, died after reaching an amazing 108 years old! Whenever asked what the secret of her long and prosperous life, Aunt Bea would say, “I know who is take’n care of me.”
Aunt Bea had a very strong faith in God taught to her, she says, “by my mother and my father.”
“We lived right next door to the church and we had the keys. And whenever anyone died, we rang the bells so that the whole town would know.”
Aunt Bea was born on Jan. 15, 1907, in Lake Charles, La., the first of four children born to Elizabeth and Stewart Robinson. During the great migrations to the north in the 1940s, Aunt Bea moved to Gary, Ind., where she met and married Nathaniel Scarbrough, a World War II veteran.
While Aunt Bea never had children of her own, every summer she took special care of her sister Margaret Dixon’s children, Akivah Northern and Margie Vance. Her careful and tender love made their summers happy, carefree and memorable.
Many will miss Aunt Bea here in Santa Barbara. In 2010 she came to SB to live with her family, Akivah and Babatunde. Her nephew, Clade Scarbourgh, her two nieces, Akivah and Margie, a great nephew, Cinque, and two great nieces, Kamilah and Kemba, survive Aunt Bea.
A celebration of Aunt Bea’s life will be held from 4 to 5:30 p.m. this Saturday, May 23, at Grace Community, 949 Veronica Springs Road in Santa Barbara.