After learning how to knit Bob Salisbury started giving away his handmade hats and scarves to the homeless. Palm Springs Desert Sun


Bob Salisbury has always been a whiz with his hands. 

The acclaimed pianist and church organist, who grew up on Catalina island, has delighted people with his music for more than 60 years. And even now at age 75 he still does, playing the piano almost daily as background music for his co-residents at The Palms, an assisted-living facility in La Quinta. 

His newest passion also requires dexterous hands, but the audience he's performing for now is a group he's never met.

You see Salisbury, looking for a way to fill his days after his wife Mary passed away in 2016, attended a sewing class at The Palms and learned about knitting. 

Since then he has been on a crusade. Salisbury, who said he knits almost all the time that he's awake, has been churning out hundreds of hats and scarves, which he then gives to the homeless. 

"I took the sewing class and was introduced to something called loom knitting," Salisbury said. "I though, 'Well, this is not too difficult.' So I started to make my first hat and it ... well, it wasn't very good, but like with everything over time it got better and better and better and for the last two years I've been making hats and scarves for the homeless."

He said it takes him about four hours to make a hat and four days to make a good scarf. 

"They're not perfect, but on a cold 40-degree desert night, I think they'll be pretty nice," Salisbury said. "Last year I made about 100 and this past year I was only able to do maybe 70. I'm bound and determined to do even more this year. I really like it. I just never stop."

Another thing you should know about Salisbury is that he is almost totally blind. Slowly but surely over the past 17 years he's lost his sight to macular degeneration. He can only see a little bit out of his peripheral vision. 

Despite only being blind for less than a year, Salisbury can navigate The Palms like a pro. From his familiar post at the piano in the dining room, he counts his steps and uses the variances between carpet and tile to work his way to the elevator. He puts his head close to the buttons to see the numbers with his peripheral sight and hits No. 3. Once out of the elevator he holds a cane against the wall as he walks down the halls, counting the number of clicks and clacks of the apartment doorways he passes before getting to his. 

"I'm sure everyone is annoyed at the noise I make, but they know it's me, so it's no big deal," he said with a laugh, his bubbly personality always in tow. 

His apartment is nicely equipped with a synthesizer style piano and several automated gadgets to help with his lack of sight. "Hey Google, table lamp on," he says to no one in particular as the light pops on. His trusty sidekick Sparrow, a black cat, hides under the bed. 

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And then he sits in his knitting work station, which doubles as a comfy recliner. He has a cabinet within reach that has 20 to 25 different colored balls of yarn. Also nearby is the other tool of his trade to go along with his knitting needles and loom, his magnifying goggles. 

While he works, he wears a large head piece that is sort of a cross between a welder's mask and a jeweler's magnifying lenses. It looks a little odd, but it gets the job done. Salisbury isn't the type of person to let a little thing like not being able to see anymore slow him down. 

"It's a challenge, certainly, a new way of living, but hey, what are you gonna do?" he said. "You either accept it and do something about it, or you sit in your room and mope and become a ... I don't know ... a jerk."

Salisbury has led an interesting life. He grew up on Catalina Island, which in and of itself is a bit of an unusual upbringing. Armed with a musical gift at an early age, Salisbury was the church organist at all three churches on the island. He was also a lounge musician and even had the cool and unusual job of playing accompanying music for silent black and white films. He still does that on occasion, in fact. 

Church organist isn't a big money-maker, so Salisbury also worked for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for 22 years while his wife Mary ran the harbor department on the island at the same time. Basically, anyone who spent any time on the island knew Bob or Mary or, most likely, both. One of the many pictures in Bob's room is off him sitting at his organ with none other than Johnny Carson, who came to the island periodically.

Later in life the couple got into horses and horseback riding and moved to Big Bear, where they lived while Bob traveled around doing the silent film gig. After a while, the weather got too cold on the mountain and the couple moved to the desert, Desert Hot Springs to be specific. 

While in DHS, Bob got a job playing organ at the United Congregational Church in Palm Desert. It was during this time that the couple found a jet black stray kitten, which they named Sparrow. They lived there until 2015, when they moved into The Palms together. A year later Mary passed away. 

"Here's a picture of her," he said, showing his cell phone home screen, which is a lovely photo of Mary. 

So now Bob and Sparrow spend most of their day in his apartment working on his hats and scarves. He leaves his door open and he gets regular visits from staffers or his across-the-hall best friend Pearl. 

When he has a large batch, a variety of desert organizations that work with the homeless come to The Palms to pick up his handmade offerings. He said he hasn't really ever heard back from anyone telling him that his handiwork is actually making a difference. 

"I haven't, really, but that's OK, I don't need to be told that they are, I know that they are helping people," Salisbury said. "I think it would be fun one day to see someone wearing one of my hats or scarves. I wish I could do more, but any and everything helps no matter how small it is. And it's not just for them, it's for me too. It makes me feel good that I can do something for somebody else."


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