Rally for Roxie Saturday at San Rafael School, Park

By Larry Wilson | lwilson@scng.com | Pasadena Star News

PUBLISHED: October 9, 2019 at 8:13 am | UPDATED: October 9, 2019 at 12:19 pm

I am not unfond of children, particularly my own daughter, all grown up and moved back East, a proper short-term experiment for a California child.

But I am rarely as entirely taken by the smarts and the panache of a young person as the one time I had the pleasure of meeting Roxie Forbes. I had come into the San Rafael Hills home of her parents Elena and Doug before we were to go out to dinner and a concert. Down the hall, from the bedroom wing of the house, came a pajama-clad, post-bath 5-year-old sprite, at speed, just released from the lap of her kneeling babysitter. She was high-tailing it for the living room and calling out about the toy she sought there: “My truck! My truck!” She was tow-headed, determined, like the white-haired little groms who run past you on the beach at San Onofre and you think: “There goes the future big-wave champ of the world. Fearless!”

Roxie was that. And she also had that really rare feature for a kid: eyes that showed both intelligence and high humor. I would not forget her funny and entirely commanding gaze.

Then I walked out of the house and I never saw Roxie again, because she drowned a few months later in a summer-camp swimming pool, a death so devastating my heart can’t begin to fathom the loss.

Survivors of the worst thing that could happen to parents, Elena and Doug are also determined not to be the people you avoid in the Trader Joe’s aisle because you don’t have the eloquence to express your sorrow.

It’s not that they have come through grief and out the other side. Nothing will ever be the same. But that doesn’t mean they can’t do something.

They created the Meow Meow Foundation (Roxie had a favorite feline doll), and Saturday will host a celebration of Roxie beginning at 11 a.m. at San Rafael School, where Roxie was in the Spanish-immersion program for a walk up to San Rafael Park at Colorado Boulevard and Avenue 64. From the press release: “The couple decided to produce Rally for Roxie as a means to recognize those who have lifted their spirits and for anyone seeking an afternoon of entertainment and collaboration. … The walk will be led by Roxie’s former music teacher from Pacific Oaks Children’s School. Catered food and drink will be available at the park, including an old-fashioned popcorn machine and special treats.” The get-together goes until 3 p.m. at the park, with tons of kid-friendly activities, so bring the family — Elena and Doug would love to see you there, even if you didn’t know Roxie.

The foundation is working with state Sen. Anthony Portantino and Assemblymember Chris Holden to pass legislation that would license California day camps. The Rose Bowl Aquatics Center has partnered with the foundation to develop water-safety and drowning-prevention programs. “The fact that California licenses day care centers and not day camps is beyond comprehension,” says Doug. “And now this gaping wide hole has someone who fell into it — Roxie Mirabelle Forbes. We will make sure children have the comprehensive protections they deserve, not just at camps, but all recreational facilities and even backyards.”

See you there.