Video displaying scenes from Regents Point, a Life Plan Community in Irvine, California

Bobbie

Opening Doors Through Education

Bobbie is inspired by a lifelong love of learning. “You say the word 'education,' and I immediately become passionate about the possibilities for everyone,” Bobbie, who has two master’s degrees and a Ph.D., says.

Education has always been at the center of Bobbie's life. Whether working as an elementary school principal, teaching as a university professor or developing programs to help people with learning disabilities, she believes in the power of education to open doors.

Bobbie channels her passion and her experience into chairing the resident-run Regents Point Education Fund to help team members — many in entry-level positions — advance their professional goals. Since its inception in 2013, when it was created through a bequest from two former residents, the fund has given out more than 120 education awards totaling more than $67,000. The funds are raised through voluntary donations from the residents.

“I feel so strongly that even though it’s not a huge amount of money — up to $750 per award — it helps people to achieve the dreams that they have,” Bobbie says. “It’s a relationship we build with the team members that shows them we care about them.”

Awards have been used to pursue a wide range of disciplines, from business administration to physical therapy. With the help of the education fund, several team members graduated from four-year universities. In some cases, they were the first in their families to attend college. Bobbie is involved in a number of other Regents Point activities. She teaches a weekly Bible class, chairs the vespers committee and participates in book groups. She also has worked with the library committee and the trip committee.

For many of the team members, the encouragement of Bobbie and her committee members has had a lasting, life-changing impact.

Sandra Garcia was a new licensed vocational nurse at Regents Point when she received her first award. Since then, she has received 12 awards through the program, which helped with her tuition to get her certification to become a registered nurse. She hopes to become a nurse practitioner.

Vivian

Starting a New Chapter

Writing helped Vivian find her voice. For Vivian, writing started as the catharsis she needed to cope with her late husband’s illness. She would sit at her kitchen table, sometimes in the middle of the night, and the words would flow out of her.

“I had to write,” she says. “Writing was my therapy.”

If you walk by Vivian’s villa at Regents Point, you might hear the clicking sound of the keys on her laptop as she writes her next book.

Her cathartic writing grew into a memoir that became "Love in the Time of Crisis," a book about being the primary caregiver for her husband. It has been the catalyst for a new career as an author. Though earlier she wrote several published articles, this is her first book for the general public.

Vivian was a natural-born writer, even if she didn’t see it as a career path. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but when I was in school, I always preferred the essay questions on tests,” she says. “Most of my friends disliked them.”

As the wife of a pastor, she had little time to focus on writing. Her family moved 15 times between Minnesota, Sweden and California, and Vivian’s time was taken up by church duties while raising two daughters and a son and pursuing a career.

Through every aspect of her life, Vivian hopes to help others, whether it’s working for social justice or hosting wine and cheese gatherings for residents. “I received so much encouragement from the Regents Point community when I was caring for my husband,” she says. “Many had been through it themselves and understood the struggles. That was so very valuable to me.”

She hopes her book can provide solace to others facing challenges.

“In one sense, I wrote it for myself,” she says. “But I also wrote it for all those people out there that need encouragement, hope and strength. I want people to find peace along every journey they take.”

Glen

Brightening the Lives of Children

Volunteering has given Glen a new life passion. When a fellow dog walker suggested he join her as an advocate for the Orange County Child Abuse Services Team (CAST), Glen jumped into the mission to help children who have been abused.

When Glen retired, he was in search of a meaningful volunteer opportunity. The chance to become a CAST advocate gave him just that. CAST advocates provide fun companionship to children who have been abused to help them feel more comfortable while their cases are being investigated.

Although he didn’t know if he would enjoy it, he was willing to give it a try for a year. That was 18 years ago, and Glen is now a CAST team leader. The grandfather of five has worked with nearly 1,000 children, bringing a little joy into their challenging lives.

“I take what could be a very bad day and find a way to make it a good day,” he says. “Hopefully, when they leave here, they won’t remember talking about the bad things that happened to them. They’ll remember the nice guy who played with them and laughed with them and fed them.”

In addition to his work for CAST, Glen keeps busy with a wide range of other activities. He exercises nearly every day, with a weekly schedule that includes tennis, lawn bowling, 5-mile power walks in nearby Huntington Beach and pickleball with Regents Point residents.’’

Glen has always been willing to try things outside his comfort zone. And at Regents Point, he has plenty of opportunities, whether that's helping to care for the community’s 12 bluebird houses or acting in plays executed by the Regents Point Footlighters.

Even though his weeks are packed, nothing interferes with his Friday afternoons with the children.

“If you’re focused on having a good time with a child, it’s an enjoyable and incredibly rewarding experience,” Glen says.

Bryce and Ann

Scientist Couple Fighting Climate Change

Residents Bryce and Ann are on a mission to make a difference. In 2007, motivated by scientists reporting that the world’s climate was beginning to warm, Regents Point residents Bryce and Ann took a tourist expedition to southern Argentina and the Antarctic Peninsula. They were alarmed by what they saw.

It was climate change right before their very eyes. 

“The ice was indeed disappearing,” Bryce says. “We visited research stations and wildlife areas where expert scientists had reached this conclusion already.”

It would be easy to be discouraged by such a frightening assessment of the Earth’s future. But the career scientists are harnessing their deep knowledge and passion for the environment to encourage, educate and empower people to find solutions.

“Bryce is a teacher at heart; I am a worker at heart,” Ann says. For more than a decade, Bryce has coordinated a class called Our World in Change at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at California State University, Fullerton. This class has provided a view of the causes and effects of global warming and research into ways to reduce it.

Ann went back to school to leverage her software experience to predict climate change. She has been a member of the research staff of UC Irvine’s Department of Earth Systems Science since 2014. Using a mathematical computer ocean model, she studies the delicate balance of the currents, the chemistry and the biology.

Their marriage has been filled with adventures, including driving independently on safari in the Serengeti in a Volkswagen Beetle and traveling down the Nile through the Sudd swamp in southern Sudan on a paddle steamer.

They have hiked and biked around the Americas and Europe. With a lifelong appreciation for nature, they were drawn to Regents Points’ neighboring Mason Park, where they enjoy walking and bicycling along the trails.

They take steps — both big and small — to help protect the environment.

“We’re trying to change minds,” Bryce says. "We’re trying to use what we’ve learned to help change the course of global warming, and to encourage people to take action urgently.”