Under the lights of the Cahuilla Ballroom at Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa, Sue Townsley was presented with the Heart of the Community Award at the Cathedral City Senior Center’s Fourth Annual A Night to Remember Gala — an evening that raised more than $600,000 for the Center’s programs and services. The honor recognizes a lifetime of service that has quietly, and profoundly, reshaped the cultural life of the Coachella Valley — and in the Senior Center’s 46-year history, it is a distinction that has been conferred only four times.
Cathedral City Senior Center CEO Geoff Corbin and COO Victor Ide presented the award, celebrating Townsley as the force who helped redefine the Center as a creative hub for the Mid-Valley. Through her leadership — both as Board Secretary and as co-chair of the Center’s exceptionally active Arts, Culture and Humanities Committee alongside Tom Rudolph — Townsley has helped drive a bold transformation of CCSC into a regional destination for arts, culture, and connection. Her work has made high-quality cultural experiences accessible, inclusive, and community-powered: often free, always welcoming, and grounded in the belief that culture belongs to everyone.
A Life Shaped by Jazz, Service, and Quiet Insistence
Born in North Hollywood and, as she puts it, “always the helper,” Townsley spent three decades at UCLA, the final 15 years in the Chancellor’s office. It was there, in the early days of UCLA’s Jazz Studies program under the direction of guitarist Kenny Burrell, that she co-founded Friends of Jazz at UCLA, coordinating concerts and masterclasses with artists of the caliber of Quincy Jones and Tony Bennett. When she retired in 2007, the California Jazz Foundation asked her to serve as its executive director. Two years later, she and her late husband Tim — a celebrated painter who earned his MFA from Otis Art Institute, whose jazz portraits and philosophical series have been exhibited at UC Riverside, and whose legacy is marked in Cathedral City with a street topper reading “Tim Townsley Way” — moved to the desert. She promptly opened a Coachella Valley chapter of the California Jazz Foundation, dedicated to helping musicians in need.
That was only the beginning.
Putting the Coachella Valley on the Map
In 2021, Townsley led the Coachella Valley’s first participation in International Jazz Day, the UNESCO and Herbie Hancock Institute initiative — effectively placing the region on the United Nations jazz map. She spearheaded Cathedral City’s recreation of Art Kane’s iconic 1958 photograph A Great Day in Harlem, staged on the steps of City Hall and followed by a free community jam session at a beloved local venue — an event that drew musicians from Los Angeles and the Bay Area and gave the Valley’s cultural life a moment of national visibility.
She was also one of three local leaders — alongside Robert McKechnie and Karen Riley — who founded the Cathedral City Peace Initiative, the effort that earned Cathedral City formal recognition as an International City of Peace. And through her service on the Cathedral City Public Arts Commission — which she previously chaired — she has been instrumental in the ongoing development of the Perez Road Art District, the industrial-turned-artistic enclave now drawing visitors from across Greater Palm Springs.
In 2020, the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Desert Communities Chapter named her its Outstanding Fundraising Volunteer, recognizing her for donating not only her time but her own home to raise tens of thousands of dollars for the Senior Center. She has also served on the boards of the Cathedral City Historical Society and the Boys & Girls Club of Cathedral City, and helped found the local UCLA Retiree Association.
An Evening Worthy of the Honoree
The gala itself was an event to match its honoree. Emceed by Emmy® Award-winning KESQ anchor Patrick Evans, the evening opened with cocktails at 6:00 PM, followed by dinner and program at 7:00, and a headline performance by The Boy Band Project — the Broadway-born act that channels the music of NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, One Direction, and the Jonas Brothers. A silent and online auction supported the Senior Center’s programs and services throughout the evening.
Townsley was honored alongside Patrick J. Payne, recipient of the Community Impact Award; Robert McKechnie, who received the Legacy Leadership Award; and Greg Lindell, recognized with the Legacy Volunteer Award. Posthumous recognition was given to Jane Rasco and Diane Gill for their longstanding dedication to the Center.
“Every Valley City Should Do More”
Ask Townsley about herself and the conversation tends to drift — back to the musicians she’s championed, the festivals she’s helped launch (Tejano Music Fest, Taste of Jalisco, LGBT Days, the Hot Air Balloon Festival), the programs she wants to see grow. She has often said she wishes every Valley city would do more to expose local artists to the public, especially through free and low-cost events: not every musician is famous, but many are really good.
It is fitting, then, that the award she now holds — a red glass heart raised up on the stage of the Cahuilla Ballroom — reflects not a single achievement but a way of being. Sue Townsley has spent her life building rooms where culture, community, and care meet. On April 17, 2026, Cathedral City filled one of those rooms and gave the heart back to her.
Related posts:
Cathedral City Peace Initiative Hosts International Day of Peace Observance & Art Exhibition on Sept. 21, 2025
Cathedral City Senior Center, Community Leaders Celebrate Dedication of the Richard G. And Anne K. Altman Craft Corner
Celebrate Cathedral City’s Latino Culture and History at Hispanic Heritage Month Block Party on Sept. 20, 2025
