Katrina Kay Brugmann Perez
This past week we lost Katrina – dear wife, mother and friend – to metastatic breast cancer. She was just shy of celebrating her 60th birthday.
Katrina was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Jean and Bruce B. Brugmann. In 1964 the Brugmanns moved to San Francisco where they founded and published the San Francisco Bay Guardian. During her high school years, Katrina worked at the newspaper doing entertainment listings and design in the art department. She attended Bradford College in Bradford, Massachusetts and graduated from Cornell University with a major in Political Science.
She moved to Santa Barbara in 1982. She met and married David Perez, an electrical engineer in 1988. They raised two children, Madeline and Nicholas. Madeline is a student in Yale University’s Physician Associate Program and Nicholas is an engineer in Ventura.
Katrina’s professional career included time working in marketing at KBLS 990 Radio, an education coordinator at Educational Foundation (known as EF) working with foreign exchange students, Santa Barbara Designs, and most recently at Trinity Episcopal Church in Santa Barbara, CA.
At Trinity, she was an office administrator. This recent position at Trinity is what she loved the most. It was often said that the Trinity office was the heartbeat of the church. Katrina loved the staff and members of the church. She made everyone feel comfortable whenever there was a request for services or help. Homeless would often show up outside her office window and she would provide food, money or referral to a local shelter for those who needed it. As a result, she had many repeat customers. She loved working with the Santa Barbara Warming Center to provide Trinity’s space for those who would otherwise be in the inclement weather for the night. She also volunteered at the Transition House where she would prepare meals for unfortunate families in need of assistance.
Katrina loved to travel. Among the many places that she traveled to were Kenya, Tanzania, Chile, the Galapagos Islands, Trinidad and Tabago, Brazil, Germany, England , France, Italy, Croatia, Canada, Hawaii, Honduras, Belize, Mexico, Ecuador, Turkey, New Caledonia, and Peru. Of these, the safari in Africa was the most memorable. She enjoyed the giraffes, white rhinos, lions, elephants, and zebras. She fondly remembered the Maasai people with their colorful robes of bright red and beautiful beaded jewelry. She created photo albums of each of these trips so that she could re-live them over and over. The day before she died, knowing the end was near, she told her mother and father with whom she traveled extensively, “We had fun, didn’t we?”
Katrina was a prodigious reader, and her children loved her to read to them from the plethora of children’s books she acquired or borrowed from the Goleta Library. While her kids were attending La Patera Elementary School, she dedicated much of her free time to the La Patera Book Fair where she helped raise money for the school’s library. One of her favorite monthly gatherings was with the members of her book club to which she belonged for more than 27 years. She was also a member of the San Francisco Bay Guardian Board of Directors.
Katrina loved to walk around Lake Los Carneros’ numerous paths and marvel at the flora and fauna. The view of the Santa Ynez Mountain Range was one of her favorites while on those walks. This was her daily routine rain or shine. Her family has created a Go-Fund-Me page for donations that will be used to place a bench in her honor at Lake Los Carneros. Please go to this link if you’d like to contribute: https://www.gofundme.com/f/katrina-perez-memorial-bench-at-lake-los-carneros?qid=5ee943dfd81409dd1e126630705adce4
She is survived by her loving husband David, daughter Madeline and son Nicholas of Santa Barbara, CA and her parents Jean and Bruce, and brother Dan Brugmann of San Francisco, CA. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Trinity Episcopal Church 1500 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101.