Leaf Roberts 1941-2025
Leaf Roberts, 84, of Sebastopol California, passed away on October 20, 2025 at her home surrounded by loved ones. A lifelong resident of Sonoma County, Leaf was known for her warmth, faith and tireless spirit.
Leaf and her husband, Will, were founding members of Sebastopol World Friends which was formed in 1985 to coordinate programs and exchanges between Sebastopol and our newly established sister city, Yamauchi, Japan. We are celebrating 40 years of friendship this year. As a founding member, she began organizing middle school exchanges with Yamauchi. It started with just a few students and adults and has grown over the years. Over the years, thousands of students and their families as well as other community members in both towns have enjoyed the experiences and benefits of international exchange and friendships.
In 1992 after the fall of the Soviet Union, Leaf was a strong advocate for establishing a sister city relationship with a city in Ukraine. Hence the sister city relationship with Chyhyryn, Ukraine was established in 1993. Cultivating the relationship with Chyhyryn became one of her lifelong passions.
Leaf was skilled at pursuing grants to improve and expand our programs. In 2006, she secured a grant from Hewlett Packard which provided for two Chyhyryn students and five Sebastopol students to attend the International Youth Leadership Summit in Washington DC. In 2011, she secured a grant from the Japan Foundation and Sister Cities International for a sustainable development exchange with Takeo (formerly Yamauchi), Japan. In 2008, she successfully applied for an Open World Program, a Congressional program to bring young professionals from Ukraine for a program about open governance and a focused topic of study. In November, 2025, SWF will be hosting our 8th Open World Delegation. All these grants resulted in continued relationships and benefits to our community and those of our sister cities.
Leaf had many friends in both of Sebastopol’s sister cities. She traveled to both cities many times, building long-lasting friendships.
Leaf’s closest connection to Chyhyryn was her friendship with Lyudmila and Ivan Birko, founders of Friends of Chyhyryn. Over the years, Leaf, Will and other SWF members hosted two of the Birko’s children while they attended high school here. The families remain close friends.
Leaf always supported our programs, showed up at our events and took scores of photos, although she never liked to have her own picture taken. She is remembered by countless travelers imploring them to make scrapbooks for their guests, creating scrapbook pages back in the days of real photos on paper. She could be counted on to run the Sebastopol World Friends silent auction at our annual Friendship Dinner.
Leaf helped make SWF what it is today, and her spirit will be with us with every hosting and exchange we run. She embodied the spirit of SWF… World Peace, One Friend at a Time.
Thank you Leaf!
