Steve and Carla Cabanatuan
Steve and Carla Cabanatuan, Wisconsin natives who transformed themselves into proud and active Goleta residents, died recently – just six weeks apart – after spending 51 years in the Good Land, raising six children and being married for 67 years.
Steve, who was 94, died on Oct. 6. Carla died on Nov. 17 at the age of 91.
Steven Cabanatuan:
Steven Cabanatuan accomplished much in his 94 years. He was a military hero. An aerospace engineer. A community volunteer.
But most of all, he was a proud father of six and husband of 67 years. Steve died on Oct. 6, in his Goleta home of 50 years, surrounded by family.
Born in Milwaukee in 1930, he and his young brother and sister were abandoned by their mother and raised by their Filipino immigrant father, who worked as a doorman at a fraternal organization where he was not allowed inside because of his race.
While their father worked, he and his siblings were cared for by a caretaker provided by the county, which also provided some food, mainly large bags of rice.
The Catholic Church, particularly the Jesuit order, also helped take care of the family and became a central force in his life. It admitted all three kids to Gesu elementary school, which was in their neighborhood. Steve was also given a scholarship to Marquette University High School and after a stint in the Army, he attended Marquette University and earned a degree in electrical engineering.
While in the Army, he served in Japan, then Korea during the Korean War. His bravery, willingness to volunteer for dangerous assignments and an injury during a hazardous mission won him high military honors: a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star.
He rarely spoke of his military days, especially memories of combat. His kids didn’t know of his medals until they found them one day in the junk drawer of a dresser. Asked why he never mentioned them or talked about his experience in the war, he said “It’s OK to remember war but it shouldn’t be celebrated.”
After graduating from Marquette University, he was hired by the research and development arm of General Motors, known over the years as AC Spark Plug, AC Electronics and Delco.
In the early 1970s, Delco closed its plant in Wisconsin and transferred him to Goleta, where his family relocated in 1973. They were part of a wave of Wisconsinites who descended on Goleta.
Among the projects he worked on with AC and Delco were the Gemini manned space flight program and the Apollo missions to the moon. He helped develop the lunar rover and there’s a photo of him test driving a rover prototype on a dirt hill near Los Carneros Road and Hollister Avenue behind the old Delco plant.
He also helped develop night vision goggles for military helicopter pilots and worked on early versions of GM’s electric car. One day on a lunch break in the late 70’s he drove a Chevy Chevette, filled with car batteries home to show one of his sons.
His family was of utmost importance. He and his wife raised their kids together, often breaking what were then traditional roles. For instance, he was the main cook, mainly because he got home while his wife was still shuttling the brood between different activities.
He attended most of his kids’ sports events at Dos Pueblos High School, a big task since all of the kids played sports.
He believed in getting involved in the community, which he usually did quietly. In Wisconsin, he was part of a group that participated in civil rights marches. He helped guard the home of the first Black family to move into a previously all-white suburb of Milwaukee.
With his kids, he helped collect recycling in the early 1970s in their suburban Milwaukee hometown, Greendale, sometimes in freezing weather, and long before it became something cities and refuse companies did.
He also participated with his kids in weekly collections of unsold bakery that was taken to meal programs, food banks or homeless shelters first in Wisconsin then in Santa Barbara.
He and his wife and their Santa Barbara church St. Anthony’s Seminary regularly cooked and served meals for homeless programs.
Perhaps because of the church’s role in his upbringing, he was an active Catholic all his life, often participating in lay leadership of the churches he attended.
In Santa Barbara, he was a leader in the St. Anthony’s community, a group that formed when the chapel behind the Old Mission that was part of the seminary closed and was sold. The group worked out a deal with the chapel’s new owners to continue weekly services even though the group was not officially recognized by the Catholic Church.
Carla Cabanatuan:
In her 91 years, Carla Cabanatuan was a pioneer of an experimental village created by the federal government during the depression, a volunteer in countless programs in Milwaukee and Santa Barbara, a journalist and, above all, a mother.
Born Carla Reichhardt in Milwaukee on Aug. 14, 1933, she was raised in Greendale, Wisconsin, a then innovative community developed by the Works Project Administration to create housing for people during the Great Depression.
As a child, Carla’s family was one of the first to inhabit Greendale, then a far flung rural suburb of Milwaukee. She was part of the first graduating class of Greendale High School. She was the first homecoming queen and editor of the high school yearbook.
After graduation, she attended Alverno College in Milwaukee before transferring to the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where she studied journalism and slid down a snow covered campus hill on a cafeteria tray.
One holiday break, she worked at the Milwaukee post office, where she met her future husband, Steve Cabanatuan. They would be married for 67 years.
The newlyweds settled in Milwaukee and Carla started her journalism career as an editor for Model Railroader magazine. It was a time when women had to choose between a career or motherhood, however, and Carla chose to raise a family.
They soon moved back to Greendale, where they raised five of their six kids. The final one was born in Goleta.
Carla was active in the Greendale and Milwaukee communities, singing in the Good News Singers, participating in a social justice organization at their church, ushering at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.
She was also a member of the League of Women Voters and volunteered in social and political campaigns including the civil rights and open housing movements and supported the United Farm Workers in its fledgling days.
With some of her kids she leafleted the local grocery store in Greendale urging shoppers to boycott grapes. Many shoppers were not moved.
In 1973, she and her family packed up and drove across the country to Goleta after Steve was transferred. Life became even more active there with the kids competing in a variety of sports. She’d rise early to make the kids lunches and shoo them off to school, would practice various crafts (stained glass, wood refinishing, embroidery and more) and fitness programs through Adult Education, and volunteer in classrooms.
Carla would often turn up her nose at clothing and other products and scoff “You could make that.” To her credit, she made a lot, sewing dresses for her daughters and later, grandchildren, and crafting decorations. After school she shuttled the kids between various sports practices and events and home. Every one of the kids were on sports teams mainly running, swimming or water polo and she rarely missed a meet or game.
In between, she managed to find time for various activities and organizations. She sang with the Santa Barbara Master Chorale, was a docent on the Coast Starlight trains for the Goleta Valley Railroad Museum and volunteered with the Santa Barbara Symphony’s music van program introducing kids to instruments.
Steve was preceded in death by his brother Richard, more commonly known as Gabby, who died last year. He is survived by his sister, Lois Hansen, of Phoenix.
Carla was preceded in death by her brothers Dick and Tim Reichhardt and sister Mary Kerstein. She is survived by her Brother Bill, of Chesterfield, Mo.
The couple are survived by sons Michael, of Albany, Calif., and Joel, of Vancouver, Wash.; daughters Nancy, of Myrtle Beach, SC, Laura, Jane and Katie, of Goleta, and 13 grandchildren and a great grandson.
A memorial service for the couple will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday Feb. 22 at St. Anthony’s Chapel, 2300 Garden Street, behind the Old Mission. A reception will follow at the Louise Lowry Davis Center at 111 W Victoria St at De La Vina St. All are welcome at both or either.
An event page has been set up on Facebook https://facebook.com/events/s/cabanatuan-memorial/3934633633434728/?mibextid=Gg3lNB
Questions can be sent to laurajeancab@gmail.com