Petra Lowen was born in Germany, 5,000 miles from the American Riveria. Her story of getting to Santa Barbara, California, is a compelling one: brave, scary (at times), brimming with the fierce, wholehearted determination of the human spirit. Her life story is one of those histories that could grace the film screen at the Arlington Theatre, a story of a woman courageously seeking something we all long for, something many of us do not have to face as head on as she did, the right to health.
In 1975, when Petra was just 24 years old, she was diagnosed with scleroderma — a rare disease that involves hardening and tightening of the skin. It can, and for Petra did, cause problems in the blood vessels, internal organs, and digestive tract. Upon receiving this diagnosis, Petra ingested the harrowing news that there is no cure for scleroderma. Doctors are at a loss for what even causes it in the first place. What doctors did know were the factors that would exacerbate the condition, such as smoke-filled environments and cold weather. It took just one frigid winter in Germany for Petra to realize moving to a warmer climate was a necessity, not an option.
It seemed an act of fate that Petra’s sister was dating a man who was attending college at UC Santa Barbara at the time. He told her about the warm winters here. Instinctively, Petra knew this was her chance for quality of life; she had to go. And just like that, they agreed to be roommates. Petra left her social work internship for the master’s degree she had been diligently pursuing; she left her friends; she left her beloved family. She said goodbye to the only life she ever knew in Germany and moved across the world in search of a place where she could live her most sustainable life.
With grit, persistence, and unshakable faith, she found what she was looking for. Her journey did not come without its challenges though. Acclimating to using her second language as her first, learning how see the benefits of being a naturally shy person in a new place and use them to her advantage, managing her diagnosis, finishing her master’s degree (which she successfully did), building community, jumping through hoop after hoop to meet the United States immigration standards so she could eventually get her green card (a task that took her until 1987 to finally complete), and finding purpose in her work all were mighty feats that took patience, drive, and an immeasurable amount of tenacity. At one point, while trying to obtain employment in her new country she noticed her bilingual skills were in the wrong languages. Businesses were looking for Spanish speakers, not German speakers. So, in true Petra fashion, she acted, signed up for Spanish classes at City College, learned Spanish, and got a job using her new skill.
Petra didn’t stop at building her most sustainable life for herself; she taught thousands of others — in circumstances both similar to and different from her own — how to create their very own path to health and stability. Petra spent 29 years of her life tirelessly working for Access Central Coast (formerly Independent Living Resource Center), a private nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing disability rights and supporting independence. Petra must have helped approximately 3,000 members in our community, and that does not include the family members and friends of those community members who benefited from her relentless advocacy work or her coworkers and peers who were better by simply breathing the same air as hers.
Being in Petra’s company was to be seen, welcomed, and cared for as a whole and complete human being no matter what your circumstances — such a simple yet truly revolutionary act. It’s no happy accident that Petra’s last name, Lowen, means “lion,” something she loved, by the way. It is an undeniably fitting name for the indomitable force she held within her petite frame.
If Petra could address you directly right now, she would likely first and foremost want you to know that she loved her family, the kind of love that runs deeper than the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. She’d want you to believe in the pursuit of justice, no matter how hard or high the climb. She’d want you to know that the first step to creating change is connecting to your community, making yourself visible, even if you are shy like she was, that where there is a passion, a will, a dream — there is a way. Petra’s legacy is proof of that.
It was on Friday, July 3, 2026, when Petra “Lion” Lowen left this human experience. A loss like this hollows out the heart if we do not find ways to keep Petra’s spirt close to us. We find respite in knowing that every time we ask ourselves the questions she religiously asked herself: How would I want to be treated? How can I improve the quality of life of those around me? And then act upon the answers to those questions, she lives on through us.
