Erika Plack passed away as peacefully as she lived on October 10, 2020 in the presence of her children, while residing at Belmont Village of Burbank. Erika, the youngest of four children was born in Hollywood, California on March 20, 1929, the first day of spring. Erika is survived by her children Heidi Matthews, Peter Edwards, Jeff Edwards, Anni Atkinson, Tony Edwards, 12 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. Erika and her family moved to Santa Barbara in 1930 where she attended Santa Barbara High School and Santa Barbara City College. She became an X-ray Technician at Cottage Hospital, and married Peter Edwards on December 2, 1950. They raised 5 children while living on Las Tunas Road in the foothills of Santa Barbara. On August 23, 1986 Erika married Alvin Plack and as Erika liked to say, “I lived happily ever after.”
Erika and Al traveled for many years together while remaining involved in their many activities. She was an avid backpacker, baker and tennis player. Erika was a member of the Santa Barbara Art Association and served as its president in 1980. She was best known for her oil landscape paintings and exhibited her paintings at the De Silva Gallery and the Arlington Gallery. Erika was one of the founding seven members of the Oak Group who painted landscapes along the California coast as well as the Channel Islands. The Oak group raised money for the Nature Conservancy with art shows portraying the vanishing landscapes in the Santa Barbara area. Erika also enjoyed lifetime friendships with her high school sorority friends.
Her greatest joys were her children and her garden. She would spend countless hours nurturing a beautiful garden at her home in Santa Barbara. In her last five years she enjoyed many Sundays visiting the La Canada Descanso Gardens. Erika’s humor and joy for life will be greatly missed.
