Robin Maya Soto

Robin Maya Soto of Newfield, NY died at home on April 6, 2021 of complications from early onset Alzheimer's. She was a remarkable human being who was born in 1970 to Lisa and Jerry Wichman in Corning, NY. Robin attended Blueberry Hill School, Blueberry Hill-Farm School, Central School (now the Beverly J. Martin school), the Alternative Community School (now the Lehman Alternative Community School - from which her daughter Maya graduated in 2020). A lover of nature and the outdoors and never one to be easily intimidated by challenges, Robin had amazing adventures including riding her bicycle from Ithaca NY to Oregon at the age of 20, accompanied along parts of the journey by her mother, her then boyfriend, and her brother. On her return from the cross-country bike trip, Robin briefly attended SUNY Purchase and then joined the Institute for International Cooperation and Development (IICD) based in Williamstown, MA. She was deeply passionate about social and environmental justice and through IICD became active in community work, first as a volunteer in Angola, and then as a group leader in Mozambique. On her return from southern Africa, Robin joined the teachers' group at IICD and worked for years training new volunteers and doing grassroots humanitarian work. An even longer and more difficult cycling expedition followed, this time with her long-time friend, Tricia Hackett. Together, they packed up their bikes and flew to London's Heathrow Airport where they reassembled their bikes and journeyed through Western Europe, Palestine/Israel and Egypt. Once back in Ithaca, Robin enrolled in the nursing program at TC3 and worked as a nursing aide at Hospicare where she met her life partner Jose "Joe" Soto. Alongside Joe, Robin strengthened her walk on the Red Road as a highly respected, Indigenous woman. Her and Joe created their lives together on their homestead in Newfield, NY. In 2002, as a Registered Nurse, she and Joe established Redmoon Private Caregivers and Consultants, providing compassionate homecare to many in need until 2015. A year later, in 2003, Robin gave birth to her beautiful daughter Maya Luz who brought great joy to her life. Throughout her life, Robin did many wonderful things and touched many lives along the way. She chose to live her life close to the land and found Creation in everything. She was a very passionate, and compassionate woman. She was a dedicated advocate for everything she believed in. Robin was not just all of these things with her blood relatives, she created and was a part of many beautiful communities that she considered extensions of her family, as far as Spirit Lake and New Town, North Dakota, Cuba, and elsewhere. Robin was the matriarch of her home, a woman of great integrity, a loving caregiver, daughter, mother, wife, sister, and friend; she left a lasting and meaningful impression on all who came to know her. At the end of her life, Robin was surrounded by friends, family and many loved ones. It was Robins wish to remain at home and to be cared for by her family, as her condition progressed this wish was brought to life by Joe Soto, Maya Soto, Alexas Esposito, Pedro Hernández-Juárez, Justine and Jamie Richar and their three children, Jessie, Julianna, and Wyatt, Yolanda Soto, Kirsten Whitecloud, Mandy Carreiro, and Alicia Wilcox. She is survived and mourned by many people, especially her life-partner, Joe Soto, her daughter Maya Soto, her mother Lisa Wichman and partner, Fouad Makki, her brother Noah Wichman and wife Jen Johnson Wichman, nephew Sam Wichman, stepdaughters Shari Sol Soto, Faith Soto, Julia Soto, grandchildren Jonathan, Jeremy, Benji, Niela, Liana, and Dominic, as well as her extended family Richard Street and Lonna Jackson, Ella Langstaff and her Elk Dreamer Sundance family. She was predeceased by her father Jerry Wichman in 1998. She is deeply missed.