In Memoriam: Rhoda Vestuto / Lady Calico (1929-2024) — Long Live The Faerie Circle!

KCSB student DJ Alex Alarcon (“Auxiliary Clinton”) + Rhoda Vestuto (“Lady Calico”) during Fund Drive 2017 at KCSB

The following is a tribute to Rhoda Orzsag Vestuto, aka “Lady Calico” (longtime host of KCSB’s “The Faerie Ring”), who passed away last fall at the age of 95.

Rhoda was born in 1929. Her parents were immigrants from Hungary. Her mother was a seamstress in New York City’s garment district, and her father was a proofreader for the New York Times during the Depression.

One of her first jobs as a teen was script-girl for ABC Radio. She was interested in radio and in acting, and attended Queens College. In the 1950s, she married an actor, and for their honeymoon they tramped around Europe for months. Upon returning to the States, they lived on a houseboat in Seattle, where son Chris was born. They moved to Los Angeles where a daughter Cecily was born, but soon afterward the marriage ended. In the early 1960s, Rhoda had to support her two small children and her mother, who provided child care while Rhoda worked.

KIDS CAN BE AWARE book, by Rhoda Orszag Vestuto & Doris Larsen, Illustrations by April Hartmann

She was hired by Thousand Oaks’ school district as a speech therapist, where she designed an innovative intensive language learning program for preschoolers. Over the years, she created curricula that taught lessons about caring for animals and the environment, kindness, fairness, and honesty. Throughout her career she was active in her union, advocating for workers rights and the welfare of children.

She and her eventual life partner were together for more than thirty years. After her retirement from Conejo Valley Unified School District, Rhoda started a private practice and continued to work with children. She had an active social life, attended yoga retreats, and wrote three books based on the curricula she had developed.

Perhaps most significantly, says Chris, she became Lady Calico. Early this millennium, as a volunteer from the greater community, he started an eclectic music program, “Rocket Garden Holiday,” on KCSB. Not long after, Rhoda submitted a proposal for her own show, called “The Faerie Ring,” in which she would “travel the worlds of fairy, folk, and tall tales, fantasy, fables, myths and nonsense, all dear to the hearts of children everywhere, no matter their ages.” Before the pandemic, it was unusual for local hosts to produce shows remotely in the way this was proposed, but, in all, “The Faerie Ring” has been on now for about 20 years.

Rhoda Orszag Vestuto Author Biography from KIDS CAN BE AWARE book

Every episode ends with Lady Calico previewing the next week’s show, saying, “Until then, this is Lady Calico, asking you to keep the Fairie Circle alive.” When her passing was announced at our fall staff meeting, we shared a slide reading, “Rest in Peace, Lady Calico. We will keep the Fairie Circle alive.”

Our student leadership settled on this year’s Fund Drive theme in honor of Rhoda Vestuto, who passed on in October: “There’s Magic on the Air.”

On Saturday, February 15th on “The Faerie Ring” (830-9am PST this fall), Chris Vestuto joined J. Scott of “Lux Obscura” (aka Jen Kiser, KCSB’s Assistant Director for Independent Media in Associated Students, UCSB) to reminisce about his mom’s life, and her legacy as a radio producer and vital member of the KCSB community.

Although KCSB’s Fund Drive 2025 has already concluded for this year, we ask that you still consider making a contribution to KCSB-FM in Rhoda’s honor. You can do so online at kcsb.org/fund-drive-2025 or here.

Help us keep the Faerie Circle alive.

Rhoda Vestuto Tribute: Graphics by Roberto Bobby Duran. Layout & fonts by Chelsea Lyons. Words: Jennifer Kiser & Ted Coe.

(Note: This post is composed by Rhoda’s son Christopher Vestuto, and Ted Coe of KCSB-FM. The illustration was provided to KCSB by Roberto [Bobby] Duran, of Santa Barbara.)