Music is senior center’s medicine

The interior of the Corona Senior Center resembles an aging woman who may have lost some of her lustre but none of her grandeur. Artificial red orchids sprout from many of its corners and chandeliers - a remnant of the time when the Center was a catering hall - hang from its high ceilings.
However, the Center’s main source of flamboyance is its membership, which consists of elderly Hispanic immigrants who spend their days reading the paper or playing bingo and pool. There, they also sing and dance: several members often use their musical talent to entertain the others.
“We are so fortunate to have talented members to give us such a good time here,” said Miriam Rolon, assistant director of the Center, which is located on 108-74 Roosevelt Avenue.
One of these talented members is 68-year-old Cruz Ligia Ramirez. On a recent Friday morning, she sang sad love songs in an almost full dining room.
“They love those romantic songs - it helps them to reminisce,” said Rolon.
Ramirez’s next songs though were more upbeat, so she started dancing to the Latino rhythm. Soon, all the bejeweled women in the hall followed suit - some began dancing in their seats, while others rose to their feet, moving with energy and a litheness that defied their age.
Singing in front of the seniors at the Center was a big deal for Ramirez, a mother of four, who made sure she was dressed for the part.
She was wearing a black tight-fitting outfit, and her high-heel silver sandals, though oversized, were extremely stylish. Her hands and toes were perfectly manicured - crimson was the color of her choice that morning - and she had a ring with a stone on every single finger. Earrings resembling the Center’s chandeliers also hung from her ears.
Ramirez is actually a professional singer who currently performs in restaurants in Corona. Before she emigrated to the United States four years ago, she was a professional singer in her native Ecuador, though she only released one album. While explaining this she showed faded photographs of her younger self singing at different events. She was blonde in some of the pictures and a brunette in others - now she’s a redhead.
Although Ramirez has been singing all her life, her music career started when she was 31 - her husband had left her for another woman and that was her way to heal. “I found refuge in my singing,” Ramirez said.
“I married my music,” she added, explaining that she never tied the knot again. Now she lives alone in an apartment in Corona.
Now Ramirez may not be as famous as she was in Ecuador, but she has received recognition here too. In August, she was honored for her music at an Astoria festival celebrating Ecuador’s independence, she said, pointing to a big medal around her neck.