Realtor’s donation has seniors dancing

Laguna Beach Realtor Bobbi Cox puts her money where her heart is.

Cox presented a $50,000 check Monday to the Laguna Beach Seniors Inc. The check — which puts her name on one of the dance studios in the proposed senior/community center — follows on the heels of her $10,000 donation to the Laguna College of Art & Design.

“When I see a need, I like to go directly there, rather than have it filtered or redirected by government or large charitable institutions,” Cox said. “I am a great supporter of the arts, mainly because they enhance the ability to learn and life — and it’s fun.”

Cox began taking dance lessons at an early age in her cousin’s studio.

“The classes gave me self-confidence — and good posture,” Cox joked. “By the time I was 12, I was teaching there. The money I earned put me through my first years of college.”

Later Cox performed in summer stock.

She suffered from stage fright until she got on stage. She didn’t much like being in the limelight Monday, but she faced the music.

“To be standing here is one of the most difficult things I have ever done,” Cox said.

She was convinced by center supporters to go public with her donation as an inspiration to others who might be considering a contribution.

Cox first heard about the center from Marthann Newton, veteran member of the local senior’s group.

“I want to thank her for that,” Cox said.

Cox also recognized the support for the center shown by the sons of the late Elizabeth Quilter, who donated $750,000 to the proposed center that has been named in their mother’s honor, and by Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider.

“Elizabeth has been an absolute inspiration and has shown leadership in so many aspects of the city, particularly the senior center,” Cox said.

“The fact that they put their names out there — I said, OK, I’ll get up there and put my name out there and maybe that will inspire someone else.”

Cox already had made a $1,000 contribution to the center as a founder when Pearson-Schneider approached her about the dance studio.

It was a natural, Pearson-Schneider said.

“She has the seniors close to her heart — she attends every event — and I knew she was a dancer,” Pearson-Schneider said. “I thought, she needs to have her name on one of the studios.”

Cox said dance — whether it’s reggae, country-western or ballet — has brought her joy throughout her life, but it has other attributes especially beneficial to seniors, even if they only do “chair dances.”

“Music and being with others gets you moving,” Cox said. I saw one woman whose son brought her into a country-western bar in a wheel chair, but when the music began she was up and dancing with him. When the music stopped, she could hardly walk. Dance can make a senior’s life healthier and more fun.”

Cox said the center means that seniors can be active mentally, emotionally and physically, not just observers.

The studio also will be used for dance classes for children and adults but Cox would like to see a “gentle” ballet class, not taught by a 20-year-old.

“I am happy to make this contribution and I am looking forward to the [center’s] groundbreaking in April.”

Cox’s $50,000 donation will be matched by Hearts of Montage, capital campaign co-chair Ann Quilter said.

“We have raised almost $2 million to help pay for our portion of the building,” Quilter said. “But we still have a ways to go to reach our $2.5 million goal.”

Revised plans for the center will be displayed at an Open House from 1-3 p.m., Monday at the Veterans’ Memorial Building on Legion Street.

The revised plan will be submitted to the Planning Commission on Oct. 25.

Expect to see Cox at the meeting.

“Bobbi has always been there for us,” said Louise Buckley, longtime Laguna Beach Seniors Inc. board member.