Obituary of Ana Maria Ygualt

Ana María del Carmen Ygualt Molanphy, beloved mother, grandmother, sister and companion, and retired professor of Spanish and Portuguese literature at Santa Barbara City College, passed away peacefully June 15, in her home in Santa Barbara. She was 80.

Dr. Ygualt taught Spanish and Portuguese language and literature at UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz and most recently at Santa Barbara City College. A great believer in the power of education, she began her studies at Ventura City College in the mid 1970s, culminating in a PhD in Spanish and Portuguese literature from UCSB in 1993. In 1993 Dr. Ygualt joined the Spanish Department at Santa Barbara City College, where she was instrumental in the success of the College’s Study Abroad program where she served as director of the program in Spain, Mexico, Chile and Argentina. She retired from the College in 2013 after a long and distinguished career, esteemed by students, faculty and staff.

Born on October 12, 1942 in Vina del Mar, Chile, to Ana Maria Molanphy Donoso and Jorge Igualt Ramirez, Captain in the Chilean Navy, Ana Maria grew up on various naval bases in Chile and in Lima, Peru where her father served as Chilean Naval Attaché to Peru. In 1964 she married Edgardo Catalan, a fine art painter and professor at the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Vina del Mar. Newly married, the couple immigrated to the United States in 1964, where Mr. Catalan had been hired by the Thacher School in Ojai, California as the head of the arts program. During this time Ana María started her studies at Ventura City College where she received her Associate degree in 1973, while raising two children and commuting from Ojai. In 1977 she earned her BA in Spanish and in 1980 her Masters in Spanish and Portuguese from the University of California Santa Barbara. She taught at UCSB from 1986 to 1988, and then at the University of California Santa Cruz from 1988 to 1993. Upon receiving her PhD in 1993 she returned to Santa Barbara to teach at City College until her retirement 2013.

Dr. Ygualt is survived by her two children, Rodrigo Catalan, (Sibyll Carnochan Catalan) and Lorena Whittaker (Colin Whittaker), grandchildren Nic Catalan, Sophia Catalan and Thomas Catalan, her companion Steve Watson and siblings Jorge José Igualt, María Eugenia Bascuñan Igualt, Margarita María Igualt. She is predeceased by her younger brother Sergio Alberto Igualt.

To commemorate Dr. Ygualt, consider a donation in memory to the Santa Barbara City College Foundation at sbccfoundation.org.