Sandra Elaine Maura (nee Price)

Birth and early years: Sandra was born in Santiago Chile on January 10, 1945. Her family moved to Falls Church, Virginia in June 1945. Sandra and her family moved to Havana Cuba in October 1955 and lived there until October 1960.

Early Education: Sandra began her education at Charles Stuart Elementary School in Falls Church and continued at Tuckahoe Elementary School when it opened in 1953. In Havana, Sandra attended one year of school at Lafayette and then attended Ruston Academy from 1956 to October 1960, when Sandra had begun grade 11 and her family returned to Falls Church. On the family’s return to Falls Church, Sandra continued grade 11 at what was then Washington and Lee High School until her family moved in March 1961 to Ottawa, in Canada, where Sandra completed her grade 11 at Glebe High School. In September 1961, Sandra enrolled at Lisgar Collegiate High School in Ottawa where she completed her grade 12. She then attended a year of studies at Katherine Gibbs School in New York City. In the summer of 1965, she led a student group with the Experiment in International Living to Taxco, Mexico. In September 1965, Sandra enrolled as a sophamore at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York. While there, she joined Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. The following year, Sandra enrolled for her junior year abroad at the University of Madrid in Spain.

Marriage to Peter Kubina: While on a vacation in Ibiza, Sandra met a young German artist, Peter Kubina, whom she later married. Sandra returned to the United States in November 1966, after her parents had retired to Florida. With the help of her father, Peter Kubina immigrated to the United States and he and Sandra married in January 1968. Sandra and Peter spent nine months, from September 1968 to June 1969, in Mexico where Peter studied pre-Columbian art and made sculptures and Sandra worked as a secretary. After returning to Florida in 1969, Sandra and Peter rented an apartment in Coral Gables where they operated an art studio while Peter worked as a draftsman for an architectural firm and taught art and Sandra worked as a waitress at the the Castaways Casino. Sandra and Peter had a child, Leif Tate Kubina, who was born in Miami on May 25, 1970. Sandra worked for a time at Youth Hall in Miami. She and Peter divorced amicably on June 28, 1973.

Marriage to Michael Maura: On July 7, 1973, Sandra married a Bahamian businessman, Michael Maura. They had a child, Luke Maura, on July 22, 1974, after which Sandra moved to Paradise Island across the harbor from Nassau, in the Bahamas, where she lived with Michael and his two sons, Mike Jr. and Chris, from his first marriage. Michael became President and General Manager of the business, Maura Lumber and Hardware, that his father had founded. Sandra and Michael separated in September 1978 and divorced on December 18, 1979.

Move to California: In 1978, Sandra moved from the Bahamas to Santa Cruz California, to learn from an Indian monk and yogi, Baba Haridas, who had attracted a community of devotees on Mt. Madonna, near Santa Cruz. In 1983, Sandra bought an empty lot in Santa Cruz and, with the help of her older brother, William Price, she built a house, designed by Peter Kubina, who was then living in nearby Watsonville, where he made art and worked as a taxi driver.

Professional training and work: In 1988, Sandra enrolled at the University of California Santa Cruz. She received her BA (psychology) in 1993 and was accepted in August 1994 into the Masters of Social Work program at San Jose University, which she completed in May 1996, after which Sandra spent two years working for Children’s Protective Services until 1978. Sandra’s house was completed in 2000 and for the next two years, Sandra cared for her mother, who had moved from Florida to California in 1993, after Sandra’s father’s death ten years earlier, and had developed Alzheimer’s disease. After her mother died in January 2002, Sandra began work, in October 2003, at the Parents Center in Santa Cruz, and a month later, on November 10, 2003, Sandra received her license as a Clinical Social Worker from the Board of Behavioral Sciences of the State of California after 3200 hours of supervision and successfully passing both a written and an oral exam. She continued working for the Parents Center for the next 12 years, until she retired to devote herself more fully to learning and applying the teachings of Haridas.

Retirement: Sandra continued her friendship with her ex-husbands and their shared children. She helped curate audio recordings she had made of the teachings of Haridas and Peter’s art. Sandra’s first husband, Peter Kubina, died of bladder cancer at the age of 75 on July 14, 2016, Haridas died at the age of 95 on September 28, 2018, and Sandra’s second husband, Michael Maura, died at the age of 82 in Nassau on February 28, 2026.