Rosina Usatch’s son describes his mother — who owned the iconic Carnaby Street store on Yates Street — as a “volcanic force” whose fearlessness, curiosity and commitment to helping others propelled her around the globe.
She died at age 78 on Jan. 11 from heart failure at her long-time home in San Christobal, Mexico.
For nearly 40 years, Carnaby Street sold products that Usatch commissioned and sourced. The store was filled with beautifully embroidered clothes, colourful carpets, Afghan sheepskin coats, and jewelry.
Walking through the door was like travelling to a far-off locale — a water fountain at the back of the store added to the ambience.
Pamela Madoff, a former Victoria councillor, treasures and still wears clothes from Carnaby Street. She first went in as an “impressionable teenager,” saying visiting the store was a magical experience that made a lasting impact.
Usatch made a lasting impression too. “She was so intrepid.”
When she had hip problems, she headed to India — twice — for surgery.
Born in Leeds, England, Rosina Usatch was a baby when her family moved to Victoria. She grew up in Esquimalt, daughter of Rosina and Sam Lane, a Victoria tourism legend who owned the Olde England Inn. Young Rosina grew up working there before her adventurous spirit lured her to places such as Kathmandu, Kabul, Delhi and Guatemala.
She had an “appreciation of life and its experiences that drove her to travel. It was also her love of people and cultures,” her son Aaron Usatch said.
Asked where she travelled, he said it was easier to name countries she did not visit.
She set up soup kitchens for street children in Delhi and Kathmandu, lined up medical treatment for people in need, and helped people hide and don disguises to flee war-torn Afghanistan in 1978.
“I don’t know how many babies my mother delivered and how many lives she saved,” her son said.
Her independence showed up early on. Sent to finishing school in Geneva, the strong-willed teen ran off and used her school allowance to travel throughout Europe, Aaron said.
“My mother was literally fearless,” he said. “She believed if it was meant to be, it would be.”
In India, she designed clothing, bringing it back to Victoria, where it was sold in trunk sales at 538 Yates St. Today, Aaron owns 536 and 538 Yates St.
The store was run by different managers through the years, with Usatch visiting Victoria periodically. In husband Robert Usatch, who died in 2015, she found a travelling companion.
They lived for a time in Kabul, Afghanistan, where Usatch worked on establishing a co-operative venture for widows and orphans.
Aaron was born in Kabul, delivered by his father in 1978.
Ten days later, the couple decided to visit friends with the baby and were on the street when Russians poured into the city as they invaded the country.
The couple hid and helped others trying to keep out of sight. They took their van through the Khyber Pass into Pakistan without paperwork, holding up their baby at checkpoints, eliciting smiles from guards and safely passing by the guns trained on them, Aaron said.
They decided to return to Victoria before heading to Mexico with the baby and a huge dog rescued in Tibet.
In Mexico, they bought a former tile factory at San Christobal. Usatch visited villages to find arts and crafts producers and arranged for textiles to be produced by a Guatemalan co-operative.
Carnaby Street continued until Usatch announced in 2006 that it would be closing. In recent years, Usatch spent time in Guatemala working with a non-governmental organization dedicated to education and assisting seniors.
Aaron said his mother sought out craftspeople wherever she lived. She paid fair wages before fair trade was common.
“She was an artist, a creator, somebody who inadvertently did business along the way,” he said. “People’s lives have been touched in so many ways by my mother.”
