Laguna Beach senior Lily Gabora defies the odds to become musical sensation
When she was younger Lily Gabora would sing, her parents would cry, and she didn’t know why.
Greg and Kris Gabora were having their emotions moved to tears as they witnessed their daughter — who is living with blindness and epilepsy — do what she loves most in the world.
“I was always singing, and I had a little keyboard that I used to mess around with,” Lily, now 17, recalled. “I didn’t really discover that I had a good voice until second grade, but I didn’t want to show it to anybody. I didn’t want to show it to my parents, especially, because whenever I would try to sing for them, they would tear up.
“I didn’t understand what ‘tears of joy’ [meant], so I thought I was making my parents sad when I sang. So, I kept it from them. Once I got more mature, I started to understand, so I started to sing more out in public.”
A few years ago, Lily got serious about playing the piano, and it has led to numerous opportunities to perform. Beyond Blindness, which Lily has received services from since she was an infant, plans to have her perform in the nonprofit’s Vision Beyond Sight Gala on March 11 at the Marconi Automotive Museum in Tustin. The gala features a “dining in the dark” experience, replicating the everyday act of having a meal for the blind.
It was through the nonprofit that Lily received her introduction to the piano, as a member of their team came to the family’s home and taught her some basics.
The Gabora family had become acquainted with Beyond Blindness, formerly Blind Children’s Learning Center, through a day of volunteering for Greg’s work in 2002. They came back again and again, and when Lily was born with her condition — Leber congenital amaurosis — they knew where to go.
Kris said that when her daughter was a baby she was given occupational and vision stimulation therapy in their home through Beyond Blindness “because we weren’t sure how much vision she had, if any. They wanted to stimulate her vision, if she had any, with colorful lights and shiny objects. … When she got a little bit older, we would go into the center because they had more equipment to help with her balance and her strength.”
Today a senior at Laguna Beach High, Lily has at times felt disconnected from the student body. That did not stop her peers from seeing to it that she became homecoming queen, alongside Laguna Beach linebacker Jeremy Kanter, who was king of this year’s court.
“I honestly didn’t know if I was going to be nominated,” Lily said. “I know a lot of the time, the ‘disabled kids’ are nominated, but I don’t feel very popular, so I didn’t really know. I was pretty happy when I found out that I was nominated because I was like, ‘That all came from my peers. They must have voted for me.’”
Another aspect of the high school experience has come to light for Lily, as she revealed that on the night preceding homecoming, she made things official with her first boyfriend, AJ.
Lily Gabora became a well-known name in some circles when she stepped on the scene as a national anthem singer at Angels games. She first auditioned at the age of 14, though her debut was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. She has now done the honors four times, and her family says she will remain in the lineup for the upcoming season.
“I thought they were just going to pick a whole new group,” Lily said, looking back on a 2020 season that was played without fans. “When I figured out that they weren’t and I was going to get my chance, I was so excited because I always say, ‘The bigger the audience, the better,’ and I’ve always wanted to perform in front of a crowd of thousands of people. … I just thought it was so cool hearing that big, huge, roaring applause.”
Several Angels players signed a beeping ball for Lily, designed to be detectable for those with vision loss. Knowing the signatures are there, she has kept it off the playing field.
Lily intends to go to community college after high school, and she wants to continue pursuing opportunities in music. She has begun creating her own compositions, as she performed an original she is calling “Storybook” during the interviews for this story.
“I want to continue working toward getting some sort of career in the music industry,” Lily said. “Basically, what I want to do is just perform and inspire. I just want to show people that even if you have a loss, or some sort of disability or a difference, you can still be who you want to be.”
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