Roberta Suzanne Adler

Roberta S. (Bobbi) Adler, a music therapist in Orange County for some 50 years, passed Feb. 5, surrounded by family, after a long illness. She was 80.

Funeral services and burial will be 2 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9, at Harbor Lawn Mount Olive Memorial Park, 1625 Gisler in Costa Mesa.

Bobbi and her twin sister, Stephanie (some three minutes younger), were born Feb. 21, 1945 to Rita and Robert Reiner in Flint, Michigan.

The family moved to Detroit, where Bobbi graduated from Mumford High School and earned a Bachelor of Science in music therapy at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Bobbi and a group of music students convinced Wayne State officials to establish a music therapy curriculum. For her efforts she was presented The Donnelly Award for outstanding students.

A voice major in her teen years, Bobbi played the guitar, dulcimer and keyboard in her practice, using music as a therapy to get clients to interact with others.

She was a member of the Regional and National Music Therapy Associations and was assigned music therapy interns from colleges throughout the country. Bobbi also was president of Southern California Dulcimer Heritage, a local group of dulcimer musicians.

Bobbi and Arnold Adler, a newspaper reporter; met at a dance at a Jewish Center in the Detroit suburb of Oak Park in 1966 and were married May 14, 1967 in Temple Emanuel, Oak Park.

The couple and daughter, Jana Dawn, moved to California in 1978 and have lived in Garden Grove for some 45 years. They have been members of Congregation B'Nai Tzedek (Sons of Justice) in Fountain Valley since then.

Bobbi established Mobile Music Therapy of Orange County, using a Chevrolet Astro van, fitted for her short size (4-feet, 5-inches). She visited senior citizen homes and group homes for the mentally disabled, bringing music to them at a number of sites in Orange and Los Angeles Counties. The van had a lift gate to load and unload her electric cart, which carried musical instruments and sound equipment for her sessions.

She is survived by her husband, Arnold Adler; a daughter, Jana (Ben) Lopez of Santa Ana; granddaughters Vanessa Lopez and Brianna Lopez, both of Garden Grove; a great grandson, Noah Wagner, Moreno Valley; her sister, Stephanie (Tim) Patterson, Huntington Beach, brother-in-law Allan Adler, Rochester Hills, Michigan; and a number of nieces and nephews.

"She has given the world so much love, compassion and beauty that the world is a better place. She has changed my life," said former intern and long-time friend Cynthia Smith of Westminster.