There are some special jewel locations in California and one of those is a small town called La Quinta. This picturesque town is part of a group of cities called Palm Springs. It has over 350 days of sunshine a year and in the season from Oct -Mar has probably the best climate in North America.
To add to its charm, especially for golfers, there are the over 100 golf course within a 15 mile radius of the center of Palm Springs. It was at one of these golf resorts that we owned a house. The house was fairly modest by palm springs standards, a three-bedroom house with a casita on the tenth fairway of the La Quinta Mountain course. It had a spectacular view over the tenth fairway to the mountains, hence was aptly named mountain course. It was in range of an errant slice with even some golf balls ending up in our jacuzzi in the courtyard.
The facility at La Quinta resort and club had two golf courses, the Mountain and the Dunes course. The Dunes course was a links course designed by Pete Dye with less challenges than the Mountain course. The start of the course was a short walk from our house so it made it easy to just wander over and arrange a pickup game. The starter, who I had got to know quite well, asked if I would mind joining a single who had no one to play with. I agreed and soon I was on an adventure that I still find hard to believe actually happened.
My new golf friend introduced himself as Dr. David Tucker and off we went to the first tee box. At the second tee box he asked me quite directly if I liked opera, I told him I enjoyed opera a lot. This seemed like a strange opening gambit for a conversation but was followed by an ever-stranger comment. “I’m sorry you can’t sing “he said. How he knew I could not sing I had no idea, but he explained he had a very good ear and could tell whether people could sing after they had spoken a few words. This was obviously an amazing talent that not many people have. He then continued his story, which got more and more interesting as he revealed who he was. He asked me if I had heard of the famous opera singer Richard Tucker, he then told me Richard Tucker was his father. As our golf round continued, he filled me in with more details about growing up as the son of a famous opera singer. Dr. Tucker told me he wanted to be an opera singer himself, but his father wanted him to become a doctor. This he told me had caused lifelong resentment between him and his father but at least he became a very accomplished eye doctor in Florida.
The round was coming to a close when he suddenly asked if I would like to come to the one hundredth anniversary celebration of his father’s life that was going to be held at the Metropolitan Opera.
Richard Tucker’s reputation at the Metropolitan Opera is highlighted by the Richard Tucker square just west of the opera house and a monument near the square to celebrate his life .
Dr. Tucker asked for my business card and told me he would send me an invite. I eagerly awaited the invitation and a few days later the invitation arrived. My daughter, Andrea, lived in New York at the time and was also an opera devotee and a regular visitor to the Met, so she was ecstatic over the opportunity to go to the Met.
Dr. Tucker’s invitation included dinner with him and his family the night before the recital and dinner at the Met after the recital.
Just when I thought my plate was full, I got a strange phone call from Dr. Tucker. He wanted to know the political leanings of my daughter, Andrea, and myself. He must have sensed my reluctance to answer and immediately clarified why he had asked the question. The purpose of his question was related to seating arrangements at the dinner at the Met. He explained that one of his guests was very liberal and the other was very conservative, he just wanted to know in order to make sure we were comfortable with the people who were sitting in our group. I told him I was very conservative, and my daughter was very liberal. He said “perfect, I will put you next to Justice Scalia and I will put your daughter next to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”
He went on to explain that both Justices frequently went to the opera together at the Met and had even sung in the chorus a few times. I had suddenly been transported from the golf course at La Quinta to having dinner with two members of the Supreme court. I had always been told that the golf course was an interesting place to meet people, but it was hard to reconcile what had actually happened.
The concert was magnificent and meeting the justices was something very few people ever get to do. Justice Scalia was a cheerful barrel of a man and Justice Ginsburg was like fragile little bird, both were charming and very enjoyable dinner companions.
Soon the dinner was over and it was time to leave and say the appropriate thank you’ s and goodbyes. As I wandered back to my hotel, I marveled how surreal the experience was and how the golf adage of meeting interesting people on the course was true.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Monument of Richard Tucker
Antonin Scalia
