Evelynn Ybarra Grosfield

Evelynn Joyce Ybarra was born November 13, 1950 in Santa Paula, California to Marcelino “Woody” and Minnie Ybarra. Shortly after her birth, the family moved to Fillmore, CA where they welcomed another daughter, Barbara Ybarra, and then a son, Robert Ybarra.

Evie was raised in Fillmore, attending elementary school all the way through high school where she graduated in 1968. Her senior year of high school she competed and won Miss Fillmore Princess, then went on to compete for Ventura County in October 1968.

Evie then attended Ventura Community College with goals of attending USCB and becoming a teacher. It was at Ventura College, in English class where Evie met her future husband, Robert Grosfield. After graduating from Ventura College, she completed her education at UCSB with a major in English. Evie then began her teaching career at San Cayetano elementary school in Fillmore as a 2nd grade teacher. This was the beginning of a long and dedicated career as a bilingual teacher for children from elementary school, junior high school, and high school.

A few years later, on August 24th 1974, Evelynn and Robert Grosfield married in Fillmore, CA at St. Francis Church. They moved to Ventura, and bought their house on Linda Vista Ave, which would be their home until it was lost in the Thomas Fire in December of 2017, which destroyed some 800 plus structures in the town. In the face of this tragedy, Evie managed to maintain a positive outlook on the prospect of rebuilding, but most of all she was just grateful they survived the fire together. 

In 1979, Robert and Evie welcomed their daughter, Elizabeth Grosfield and 3 years later, their son, Robert Grosfield Jr. They had many fun memories together over the years. Evie was a doting mother over her 2 children, always the cheerleader saying, “You can do anything!” She was constantly praising and building up her kids, and they had no doubt that she loved them. She was their biggest advocate, and always spoke up for the sake of her children, and her family. There are many fond memories of staying up late to watch movies, cooking together, and enjoying each other’s company. Later on, in 2002 Evie became a grandma for the first time, welcoming 4 grandchildren in total over the years. She continued the same doting love on them as well. Her grandchildren, Michael, Christopher, Conner and Claire have many memories of warmth and love shown to them by their Grandma Evie.

Evie had a strong connection to family, and loved to be with her mom, Minnie, her sister, Barbara, and brother, Robert who also lived in Ventura. Evie loved going to the pool with family. They had many BBQ’s and dinners together. There were many evenings spent at her mom’s house with the whole family together. She loved her 3 nephews, and their 4 children. It brought her so much joy to be able to give gifts and see the children grow.

As a loving mother and busy teacher, she always found time for other projects, especially for her students and their education. She hosted a radio show on Ventura’s local radio station, which focused on bringing awareness to issues that children faced in education, as well as interviewing authors, and a variety of different guests. She developed creative solutions to help her students love what they were learning, and was always excited to decorate her classroom for the kids. She loved art and most of all she loved writing and teaching her students to appreciate it. After retiring as a teacher, she became an author of local history books. She authored 5 books and co-authored another one. She spent many hours researching, interviewing and traveling around the area with her husband, Robert or son, Robert Jr. and her cousin, Laura to take pictures of local sights for her books.

Evelynn loved going out to eat. She loved lunching with her girlfriends that she had kept in touch with since elementary school. She would talk all the time about the memories and how they would get together and laugh. Her friends were important to her, and they played a part in encouraging her to maintain her zeal for life.

In February of 2019, Evie was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. She fought hard to beat this cancer, and struggled with many health issues over the years, but despite this cancer being tough, Evie’s smile was tougher. She never let the cancer dim the bright light that she showed the world. Her husband Robert was a faithful husband and caretaker through this time, taking her to every doctor visit, and treatment. She even managed to publish 2 more books while undergoing treatments, and was working on another. Evie never let on how sick she really was; as an optimist, it just wasn’t in her personality to be down on herself. 

Evelynn was joyful, cute, funny and beautiful. She loved her family, and she loved living life in her own style. She was brave and talented and always had a good time. She will be missed by many who truly loved her. 

...Family in the care of Erin Arteaga, Funeral Director