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Forest Glen Senior Residence resident Ilene McKinley hits the gas while fulfilling her 100th birthday wish by going for a ride on four-wheel all-terrian vehicle with the help of facility Administrator Debbie Wilson in Canyonville on Tuesday. The ride started a bit rough when McKinley grabbed the accelerator, but the two controlled the vehicle and cruised around the facility for about 20 minutes.
CANYONVILLE — Ilene McKinley has lived a full life, one that has brought her to the cusp of turning 100 years old, but there was still one thing the 99-year-old just had to do — ride on a four-wheel all-terrain vehicle.
Her wish came true on Tuesday afternoon at a birthday party at Forest Glen Senior Residence in Canyonville. The party was for McKinley and another resident, Lillian Marsters. Both turn 100 at the end of this month.
Following birthday festivities, which included a performance by the Roseburg High School a cappella group Vocal Fusion, one of the senior residence's staff brought in her ATV and helped McKinley to go for 20-minute joyride just outside the Forest Glen building.
“I brought a helmet and everything for you, girl,” said Forest Glen Administer Debbie Wilson.
McKinley, along with curious onlookers including McKinley's son and daughter-in-law, Vocal Fusion and Forest Glen staff, headed out the back door where Wilson was waiting with her four-wheeler, extra helmet in tow.
Five people helped the pint-sized McKinley make it safely into the driver's seat of the ATV with Wilson sitting directly behind her, both of them gripping the handlebars.
Before Wilson even had a chance to get settled, the 99-year-old hit the accelerator and sped off over a nearby curb into the senior residence's rear parking lot.
“That thing has a touchy accelerator,” said McKinley after the ride as she munched on some orange Halloween-themed birthday cake. “If I was just touching it — zoom.”
Wilson said she got a kick out of riding around on the four-wheeler with McKinley, who she said wanted to just keep going.
“You should have heard her,” she said. “She was screaming. She was like ‘woo-hoo!'”
Every month Forest Glen tries to make into reality an “ageless dream” of something a resident has said he or she had always wanted to do.
McKinley first found out about ATV's from some of the other residents at Forest Glen after she told them about how she and her husband used to go dune buggying.
“They didn't have (ATV's) in our day. They had dune buggies. They were mostly handmade out of old trucks,” she said.
She and her husband converted an old truck into a dune buggy to ride up and down dunes in Colorado.
“She always wanted to go back to dune buggying,” said her son, Joe McKinley of Days Creek, explaining why his mother was excited about the opportunity to ride an ATV. “She's been talking about this for months.”
He wasn't surprised at all that she would be up for something so exuberant at her advanced age. She had her own place until she was 98 and didn't stop driving until four years ago, he said.
“She didn't want any help,” he said. “She's stubborn.”
As he waited for his mother to return from her ride on the ATV, he joked, “I might have to buy one.”
• You can reach reporter Inka Bajandas at 957-4202 or by e-mail at ibajandas@nrtoday.com.
Her wish came true on Tuesday afternoon at a birthday party at Forest Glen Senior Residence in Canyonville. The party was for McKinley and another resident, Lillian Marsters. Both turn 100 at the end of this month.
Following birthday festivities, which included a performance by the Roseburg High School a cappella group Vocal Fusion, one of the senior residence's staff brought in her ATV and helped McKinley to go for 20-minute joyride just outside the Forest Glen building.
“I brought a helmet and everything for you, girl,” said Forest Glen Administer Debbie Wilson.
McKinley, along with curious onlookers including McKinley's son and daughter-in-law, Vocal Fusion and Forest Glen staff, headed out the back door where Wilson was waiting with her four-wheeler, extra helmet in tow.
Five people helped the pint-sized McKinley make it safely into the driver's seat of the ATV with Wilson sitting directly behind her, both of them gripping the handlebars.
Before Wilson even had a chance to get settled, the 99-year-old hit the accelerator and sped off over a nearby curb into the senior residence's rear parking lot.
“That thing has a touchy accelerator,” said McKinley after the ride as she munched on some orange Halloween-themed birthday cake. “If I was just touching it — zoom.”
Wilson said she got a kick out of riding around on the four-wheeler with McKinley, who she said wanted to just keep going.
“You should have heard her,” she said. “She was screaming. She was like ‘woo-hoo!'”
Every month Forest Glen tries to make into reality an “ageless dream” of something a resident has said he or she had always wanted to do.
McKinley first found out about ATV's from some of the other residents at Forest Glen after she told them about how she and her husband used to go dune buggying.
“They didn't have (ATV's) in our day. They had dune buggies. They were mostly handmade out of old trucks,” she said.
She and her husband converted an old truck into a dune buggy to ride up and down dunes in Colorado.
“She always wanted to go back to dune buggying,” said her son, Joe McKinley of Days Creek, explaining why his mother was excited about the opportunity to ride an ATV. “She's been talking about this for months.”
He wasn't surprised at all that she would be up for something so exuberant at her advanced age. She had her own place until she was 98 and didn't stop driving until four years ago, he said.
“She didn't want any help,” he said. “She's stubborn.”
As he waited for his mother to return from her ride on the ATV, he joked, “I might have to buy one.”
• You can reach reporter Inka Bajandas at 957-4202 or by e-mail at ibajandas@nrtoday.com.
