Charis C. Bratt
Charis (Cherie) Bratt passed away on August 27, 2023 at 90 years of age. She was born on December 31, 1932 in Lake Placid NY to Ruth and Stanley Cobane, the second of four children. She had two brothers (Stanley and Craig) and one sister (Janet). Growing up in Lake Placid she enjoyed its friendly, small-town character, winter sports, and the magnificent color transformations as the seasons changed. She was captain of the high school ski team which competed against other local high schools. She graduated from Lake Placid high school in 1950 as Salutatorian of her class and matriculated with a scholarship to Syracuse University but had to drop out of college because smoking was allowed in class which triggered asthma attacks.
She then found work in New York City at the YWCA and later came to work at Syracuse NY on the American Airlines reservation desk. It was there that she met future husband Peter Bratt one day while playing tennis on the courts in Kirk Park. Peter, a tennis player at Syracuse University, said to friends, “I have to meet this girl, she’s playing against a guy and beating him.” They met and soon became friends, lovers, and husband and wife. Married in 1954 they started a family while he continued his college studies, graduating with a BS degree and then going on to post graduate studies eventually earning a PhD with a major in Physics. Through the college years they lived in poverty but didn’t know it. Yes, money was short but there was no despair, they were happily building foundations for the future. She earned an honorary degree of PhT (Putting hubby Through).
In 1960 she came to Goleta with five children and husband Peter who had accepted a job at the Santa Barbara Research Center (a subsidiary of Hughes Aircraft Company). In those days the IRS tax forms asked for the spousal occupation where an accepted input was typically “housewife” or “homemaker.” She was truly the “home maker.” Besides the usual cooking and cleaning, she was the shepherd who guided the children through their early years: at schools; La Patera Elementary, GV Junior High, and Dos Pueblos; boy and girl scout troops, YMCA camps, Goleta Presbyterian Church, and home activities.
She was also a “community builder.” In 1965-70, along with the Lake Los Carneros Residents Association and others, she led the effort to save Lake Los Carneros from high density apartment development to become the nature preserve it is today.
She also saw at first hand the miserable living conditions for some families in Goleta and helped form the Goleta Valley Housing Committee which was able to obtain a HUD secured loan to build Villa La Esperanza, one of the first low-cost housing developments in this area. Later, this led to another development called Casa de Los Carneros built in the 2000s.
As a Santa Barbara (SB) County Planning Commissioner (1971-79), she advocated for, in general; proper zoning regulations, good design plans, water conservation, and particularly; for bikeways. Despite opposition from some County government officials, she got the first off-road bike way built from Goleta Beach to Modoc Road and, along Maria Ygnacio creek to University Avenue. This was unprecedented because it passed under Hollister Avenue, the S&P railroad tracks, the 101 freeway and along a creek bed which some considered too dangerous from flooding. She had to remind them that is only during the very infrequent rains and could be gated off when necessary. This route connected UCSB to the wider community and many other subsequent on-road bike ways. Thus began a trend that is continuing to this day such that the SB south coast area is now recognized as one of the top three “bike-friendly” municipalities in the US.
She belonged to the Audubon Society, participated in many Christmas bird counts, and hosted the telephone site which alerted members to rare bird sightings in SB County. This led to her work on much larger birds as a volunteer with the SB Museum of Natural History, participating in the condor recovery program. She sat on many different mountain ridges; locating, counting, and identifying the remaining condors which were nearing extinction. The success of this program is now well known; condors have escaped extinction and healthy populations are roaming the sky above our backcountry mountains.
One day, while sitting on a rock on a mountain top waiting for a condor to appear, she looked down to see strange multicolored organisms growing on her rock and wondered what they were. She learned that they were lichens and decided to find out more about them. This opened up a whole new vista for her to explore. She went to SB City College studying natural history, botany, and geology. She learned how to collect, identify, and curate lichen specimens. The learning experience was enhanced by visits with international experts whom she took on field trips throughout California.
In 1983 she became a volunteer Research Assistant and was assigned laboratory space at the SB Museum of Natural History and with these credentials, joined excursions and professional meetings with other lichenologists throughout California, Oregon, Montana, British Columbia, Arizona, Ecuador and Spain. Her special area of research was the SB Channel Islands where she, over time, visited all eight of them becoming a member of the very exclusive “All Eight Club” (only about 40 members worldwide). She was a founding member of the California Lichen Society formed in 1994.
In 1998 she moved to the SB Botanic Garden and donated her entire lichen collection (with herbarium cabinets) to them, providing a trove of some 40,000 specimens for use by future scientists. She continued working at the Garden for the next ten years, teaching others and conducting training workshops for US Forest Service Rangers, officially retiring in 2008. In 2016 she was given the Ramalina menzeseii award by CALS in recognition of her excellent work with lichens of California. She has also been honored by her lichenology peers in having seven new species named after her.
By this time, signs of Parkinson’s disease began to appear along with other medical health problems and she could no longer accomplish her favorite outdoor activities but, recognizing the inevitable, bravely continued living on with the help of expert medical care at Sansum Clinic and the Parkinson Association of Santa Barbara amid the comforts of home and family. On Thursday August 24, 2023 she quietly passed away accompanied by family and Hospice care givers. Her memory will long live on because of her love of family, steely spirit, and desire to make a better world to live in.
Cherie is survived by her husband Peter, children Jeff Bratt (Ann Willard), Heidi Bratt, Andrea Bratt (Paul Berquist), Greg Bratt (Susan), Jon Bratt (Wanda) and granddaughter Emily Bratt.
A memorial service and reception will be held on September 17, 5:00pm at the Goleta Presbyterian Church, 6067 Shirrell Way. Donations in her honor may be made to the Goleta Presbyterian Church Memorial Garden Fund.