Bertha Blanco; Chumash Indian, Museum Docent

Ventura native Bertha Tumamait Blanco died at her Ventura home Monday surrounded by her family. She was 89.

Blanco was born Aug. 20, 1909. She was the oldest of four children born to Cecelio and Maria Tumamait of Ventura. She attended Holy Cross School and Ventura High School.

Blanco was Chumash Indian, a member of one of the last families in Ventura who were seven-eighths Chumash, her family said.

She and her husband, Joseph, had three children.

During World War II, Bertha Blanco worked at the Navy Construction Battalion Center in Port Hueneme. She retired after 34 years of civilian service for the Navy, her family said.

She volunteered at the Ventura County Museum of History and Art and, since 1986, was a docent who participated in the museum’s Chumash Youth Project. Children in the project will remember Blanco for her gentle manner, according to her family.

Blanco enjoyed gardening, canning preserves and feeding and watching birds.

She was preceded in death by her husband and two brothers, Vincent and Vernon Tumamait.

Blanco is survived by two daughters, Anita Kincade and Esther Badilla, both of Ventura; a son, Steven Blanco, also of Ventura; a sister, Margaret Duarte, of Ventura; 19 grandchildren; 33 great grandchildren; and seven great-great grandchildren.

There will be a visitation from 2 to 7 p.m. today at the Joseph P. Reardon Funeral Home in Ventura. A rosary will follow at 7 p.m. The funeral will be held at 8:45 a.m. Thursday at the San Buenaventura Mission with interment to follow at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions be made in Blanco’s name to the Livingston Memorial Visiting Nurses Assn. in Ventura.