Cameron — a high-school junior and three-sport letterman — didn’t say a word the entire drive. But Rebecca’s parents were in Arizona (having moved here for her father’s health), as well as her sister and younger brother. Eventually, things smoothed out and Cameron wound up getting recruited to play football at Yale. With the kids effectively launched, Rebecca and Peter discussed their new roles. “We had a conversation when he came into this job,” Rebecca said. In the past, her community involvement centered around the kids’ schools and sports. Now, her philanthropic work would be more public. “I would go into organizations that had missions I could support, that I liked what they were doing, and just started getting involved in the Valley,” she said. First came Chrysalis, which helps people impacted by domestic violence, and Fresh Start, which helps women going through a life transition. “Fresh Start, at that time, had a connection with Banner, because Banner had the land they built their resource center on,” Rebecca said. Nonprofits appreciated that Rebecca was an active board member, eager to roll up her sleeves. She helped start WISP, or Women Inspiring Scientific Progress, which was affiliated with the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute. “My mother was being treated at Banner for Alzheimer’s,” she said. “She’s now passed, but their resource center was so helpful that we decided to start a women’s group to provide ways to navigate the system — what to expect, and how to react to things as they were happening.” After some time, the organization became WISH, Women Inspiring Scientific Healthcare. “There is still an Alzheimer’s channel in it and a commitment to Alzheimer’s, but we realized there’s more to it. There’s women’s heart health, gynecological and OB. There are women looking after their children’s or grandchildren’s healthcare,” she said. She and Peter also supported the Banner music therapy program after seeing the benefit of music in Alzheimer’s patients like Rebecca’s mother. “They only had one music therapist for all of Banner Hospice, and there was much more need,” she said. Music therapy helps patients cope with their disease, reduces stress and provides a supportive tool for families. “You really saw the connection that music made,” Rebecca said. After her mother passed away, Rebecca and Peter — whose mother also had Alzheimer’s — funded a second music therapist personally, and then made a matching gift to endow the program so it wouldn’t struggle to find funds every year. For his part, Peter dove into the community, as well. “I was asked to go on the board of TGen, the Translational Genomics Research Institute,” he said. “I was one of the early board members, and was on there for over a decade. Then the Heard Museum board. I’m on the Greater Phoenix Leadership board, too.” Peter during his “ski-bum” era Wedding day, 1975 Family Disney World trip, 1987 Cambodia with Jillian, 2008 COVER STORY 42 | FRONTDOORS MAGAZINE

You might say Rebecca is the right brain and Peter the left of this couple that calls themselves “complementary opposites.” She is gregarious and chatty. His is more taciturn. But together, the couple has mastered a set of his-and-her roles that have helped shape the community. Take the Desert Botanical Garden. Rebecca got involved with the Garden shortly after moving here and joined the board in 2002. “I grew up on a farm but needed to figure out how to garden here, versus in the Midwest. Because when it says full sun, that does not mean Arizona sun,” she laughed. She is currently serving her third term on the board and has managed their big events several times. But the connection with the Garden runs deeper than keeping desert marigolds alive. When Peter was fighting throat cancer and going through treatment at MD Anderson Cancer Center, the Fines rented an apartment nearby while he was undergoing radiation. “We would walk across the Garden, as long as he could. He found a sense of peace and the connection between health and wellness and gardening,” Rebecca said. Indeed, the native New Yorker accustomed to traffic and horns used the Garden to clear his mind. “As a result, we came up with the idea of creating a garden where cancer patients can go and relax, contemplate, think,” Peter said. Located in the historic section of the Desert Botanical Garden, the Fine Family Contemplation Garden features a labyrinth, reflective water feature and a line from a poem written by their daughter, Jillian. “It turned into this big thing. It’s been on TV and was in a Disney movie,” Peter said. Christmas at Desert Botanical Garden, 2015 FRONTDOORS MAGAZINE | 43