Obituaries : Cora S. Root; Nurse, 99-Year Resident

Cora S. Root, a lifelong Ventura resident and retired home health care nurse, died Wednesday at St. John’s Hospital. She was 99.

Root, who was born Corina Sophie Yanez in 1897 on the Broome Ranch, was the great granddaughter of Eldora and Don Raimundo Olivas, who built the historical Olivas Adobe in 1850. Don Raimundo was a Spanish soldier whose services were rewarded with a large land grant in what is now Ventura.

“She used to speak of going to the adobe as a child and seeing her grandmother rolling out tortillas on a flat stone,” said daughter Velma Ann Bower of Ventura.

Bower said her mother enjoyed talking about Ventura’s history.

“She saw Ventura grow from a place of dirt streets and wooden sidewalks. She went to grammar school in a two-room schoolhouse in a horse and buggy. She learned to drive when the Model T first came out.”

Root is survived by three sons, Allen George Root of Red Bluff, Calif., Kenneth Andrew Root of Sacramento and Clyde Lester Root of Piru; and four daughters, Anita Preitauer of Red Bluff, Elma Howk of Coos Bay, Ore., Juanita Oxford of Thousand Oaks and Bower.

She is also survived by one brother, Ray V. Yanez of Santa Paula; two sisters, Carmelita De La Riva of Ventura and Olivia Miranda of Grandview, Mo.; 30 grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and 11 great-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband Andrew Edwin Root.

Visitation will be held Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Ted Mayr Funeral Home in Ventura. Funeral services will be held Monday, 10 a.m. at the funeral home. Burial will follow in Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura.

* OJAI FESTIVAL OFFICIAL: A20