Lee Calvert Keeps Playing On

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Lee Calvert has experienced a lot over 100 years, so it came as no surprise to everyone who knows her that when she lost her home in the Palisades fire, the community’s beloved “Golden Girl” did not let the misfortune dampen her spirit one iota.

No one loved being a Palisadian more than the senior badminton and table tennis champion, but since having to relocate to the Santa Cruz area, Calvert has found solace in push-ups and ping pong—activities that have kept her fit as a fiddle since she reached the century milestone August 15, 2024.

A resident of Tahitian Terrace for more than six decades, Calvert recently shared with the Palisadian-Post what she went through January 7 when her world was turned upside down by a disaster that ravaged the place most near and dear to her heart.

First and foremost, she wanted everyone to know she is safe and doing fine.

“My daughter-in-law lives in Malibu near PCH, and she recognized the brown-colored smoke to the south as being dangerous,” recalled Calvert, who was at her place at the end of Samoa Way that morning. “She called me and told my caregiver to grab a change of clothes in a bag and meet her friend in a Santa Monica restaurant. I went along with it to humor her around 11 a.m. before anyone knew there was a problem. The evacuations started a few hours later and then there was congestion getting out of Tahitian.”

Calvert’s daughter Nancy Lingemann booked Calvert and her caregiver a hotel room in Santa Monica.

“What a lucky break that was,” Lee said. “The next few nights I was invited by my dear badminton friends who live in Hermosa Beach to stay with them for a couple of days. We went to the Manhattan Beach Badminton Club where I saw my friends playing, and with that fun visit, I was unaware of the magnitude of the disaster in the Palisades.”

By the weekend, Calvert’s friends drove her to San Luis Obispo where her son Jeff met them and drove Lee to Santa Cruz, where he lives in a Victorian house he bought in the early 1970s. Lee has been up there ever since and is getting used to it.

She can hardly comprehend what has become of Tahitian Terrace, where hers was the first house built on the property.

“I saw the awful drone video footage of what used to be my little haven at the mobile home park,” she lamented. “Hard to believe it’s all gone.

“Some friends from the Huntsman World Senior Games [in Utah] told them that I lost all my medals in the fire so they sent me duplicates of my medals for the nine events that I won golds in, plus T-shirts for each of those years,” she continued. “I’m hoping to go in November. Jeff comes over a lot to practice table tennis with me.”

Nancy, who is three years older than Jeff, started attending Palisades Charter High School the year it opened in 1961 and took her mom with her to a 60-year reunion picnic on campus in September.

“Of the ‘kids’ who attended, Mom was the only parent there,” said Nancy, who has run a flower business for 50 years where she and her husband live in rural Bonny Doon, 20 minutes northwest of Santa Cruz. She said she is happy to have Lee living with her now.

A proud Optimist Club member, Calvert used to work out every day at Palisades-Malibu YMCA. She became a senior master in the sport of badminton, earning over 200 medals in her 30-year career before undergoing knee replacement surgery when she was 87.

She is a member of the USA Badminton Hall of Fame. When she “outgrew” badminton she switched to table tennis and competed annually at the Huntsman Games, adding to her medal count.

“Jeff and I are making plans to bring Mom into town soon where he could meet us at the senior table tennis club, which practices several times a week,” Nancy reported. “Apparently, they’re very good players, so she’s thinking she’d better play at the beginning level table. She a realist and says 100 is a far cry from the mid-90s age bracket when she used to compete seriously.”

Calvert enjoys playing ping pong with Jeff (who turned 75 in November) on Nancy’s table.

“It’s a big change out here in the mountains, but I like it,” Calvert said. “They have a big house with lots of guest rooms. So many flights of stairs each day for me!”