Norma Royale Benavides Wilder

Norma Royale Benavides Wilder, 82, of Santa Barbara, CA, passed away peacefully on April 4th, 2026 at Valle Verde Senior Living Community. She was surrounded by family and friends in a very loving environment at the time of her passing. She will be dearly missed. Born on August 9th 1943 in Berea, Kentucky, she was the daughter of Winifred and Charles Wilder. Norma graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Spanish and History from Beloit College and went on to finish two Master’s Degrees. One in South American Literature at the University of Tennessee Knoxville and the other later in her life in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, CA. From 1963 to 1965 she served two years in the Peace Corps in Guatemala. She then worked as a teacher in California and a Secretary Clerk for the Governor of Wisconsin. Her passion for traveling the world was a family tradition, inherited from her parents and shared with her sister Barbara. She was married to Alonso Benavides in 1971 and they eventually settled in San Jose, Costa Rica where her focus was on raising a family and also managing a refugee farm for El Salvadorian refugees escaping the countries civil war of the 1980’s. The refugee farm was appropriately named Finca Doña Norma (Ms Norma’s Farm). After her return to California, and divorce in 1994, she worked for the County of Santa Barbara at CALM and the Juvenile Probation and Mental Health Departments as a Counselor and Court Assessor. She retired from working with Santa Barbara County after 20 years of dedicated service. Throughout her life, Norma was a member of the Unitarian Church and enjoyed social events with family and friends more than anything. She was known for her humor, laughter, warmth and dynamic storytelling. Norma’s passion in her latter years was writing. She wrote and published two books; The Longer I Live, The Wilder It Gets, and How Does Bilingual Psychotherapy Work? She is survived by her sister Barbara, children Mia, Karlos and Sofia, grandchildren Ty, Mylie, Emma, Olivia and Yenci, as well as her only nephew and niece Charles and Laura. Her family will be holding a private memorial service in Carpinteria on May 30th to celebrate her life. Norma’s final wishes were to have her ashes planted with a tree which will be planted on the family property.