Help Toni Lee Scott keep her Dog & her dignity
December 7, 2021 Update from Max Perkoff, longtime friend and piano accompanist/conductor for Toni Lee Scott:
Thanks to the support of her friend Cynthia, Toni has moved to a wonderful place she's quite happy in: COGIR of Sonoma Senior Living.
However, she needs donations in order to afford the rent., as she only has enough money for about another year, no more. Details of why
she had to move out of her Novato home are below. I'll continue to visit her regularly and plan to make music with her again, performing in the COGIR lobby where they have a grand piano. We'll broadcast these performances live on Facebook, and I'll post dates here when I
have them, so stay tuned! Many thanks to everyone who's already donated any amount. Every penny goes to helping her stay at COGIR.
From Toni's dear friend Cynthia:
I’ve known of Toni for about 40 years. She was friends with my parents. About a year ago, I had heard things were not as usual at her home , then I got a call from her saying, “Please, come and help me.” When I went to see her I could not believe what I found. But first let me tell you a bit about her.
A few of her friends have given me their stories and memories of Toni .
Toni Lee Scott has long been known for her iconic jazz vocals, her admirable determination to make the best of “this thing called life,” and her friendship with the gone-too-soon James Dean. Her vocal range has won her long standing recognition and praise in the cabaret genre. Over the course of her career, she has appeared on such television shows as This is your life, Steve Allen, Johnny Carson, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and The Mike Douglas Show, just to name a few. Her life story can be found in the autobiography, "A Kind of Loving."
At 19, Toni lost her leg in a motorcycle accident, but she never gave up on her career, and has been performing ever since. Her friendship with James Dean gave her inspiration and helped her to keep the
faith. She, in turn helped uplift him in many ways. They spent a lot of time together, It’s a story that not many people are aware of, and she has kept their relationship dear to her heart.
Exert from an article:
Interviewer: After James Dean's death, you went on to form M.A.R.G.I.E. to help the young to deal with the loss of a limb. Why do you think such things are important? What did you learn from working on that project?
Toni: I named the M.A.R.G.I.E. foundation after a 15year old girl by the name of Margie Chapin. I created the foundation to help others with disabilities and to help them to obtain properly made and properly fitted prosthetic limbs. Also I wanted to help them to obtain the courage and the confidence to re-enter society and the work place. I myself found that from my own experiences doing so was very difficult so I wanted to make it easier for others.
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In 2019, Toni and her husband, feeling the plight of aging, thought they needed some help so they called one of his family members to come help them out. Instead of helping them, this "help" tore them apart. Toni had fallen out of bed and fractured her back and became very ill for a few months. She was being pressured to sign a listing agreement to sell her home she loved so much. These family members told her
they would buy a modular home up North and they would all live in it together, but Toni didn’t agree. In the midst of this, her husband told her he wanted a divorce. As a result, he is able to force a sale of their longtime home which has been upgraded to accommodate Toni's
being in a wheelchair.
When Toni refused to move in 2019 these family members, packed up all of her personal belongings and sent them to storage unit as they
planned on sending her to live with a friend in LA even though the friend had told them that she did not have room for Toni in her small condo.
They then decided to pack up and leave Toni, they just walked out the door. She will never forget the grin on her husbands face as she sat
there in tears watching him leave.
When I came to the house after Toni called me to help her, I just could not believe what I saw. all of Toni's pictures had been torn off the walls, a pile of important papers left on the table, it looked like a tornado had gone through the house. It was a mess, she was calm but looked sad and In shock.
Toni is such a caring person. She helped with taking care of her husband’s dying mother, another of his family’s aging grandmother’s, and
then her own mother, Vivian. All three elders were able to live in Toni's home without worry and with loving care. It’s just not right that she could end up on the street or some nasty convalescent hospital.
Toni Lee Scott has been a force of nature, a brilliant singer/performer, a good wife and a beautiful soul.
