The final time Helen Akard rode a motorbike, World War II had not but began. But the centenarian hopped again within the saddle on her latest birthday and beloved each minute of it.
On Friday afternoon, Dec. 30, a motorbike engine rumbled to life in Knoxville, Tenn. Then, a white-haired lady with a motorcycle reduce and sporting black clothes sidled over to it, climbed on board, and went on her first journey in eight many years.
When 105-year-old Akard final pulled again a motorbike throttle, the United States was nonetheless climbing out of the Great Depression. The first air-conditioned automotive had not but hit the showroom flooring. And the appearance of nylon stockings for ladies was proper across the nook.
But it’s simple to think about a few of that was the very last thing on this younger lady’s thoughts. Knoxville’s WVLT 8 information station shared a dashing picture from her youth, displaying Akard seated on a motorcycle along with her uniform cap tilted at a rakish angle.
In her 20s, the station reported, Akard rode “avidly” as a result of she “liked how it felt, going fast, and feeling the wind.”
Finally, Akard felt all of it once more on her one hundred and fifth birthday. A biker group from East Tennessee broke the hiatus and stunned her, WVLT mentioned.
By all indications, she welcomed the present.
“Well, I just want to say I’ve had just about the nicest birthday I’ve ever had,” Akard advised WVLT after her journey.
Understandably, Akard didn’t get behind the controls to function the bike — however she did a minimum of briefly take the saddle and deal with the bars. Watching her do it, you’d suppose she by no means stopped driving in her lengthy life.
Akard retired from her profession as a mortgage officer on the spectacular age of 93, WVLT reported, and now she hopes to journey extra typically as she endeavors to survive her mom — who lived to be 108.
“A lot of people say I’m crazy, but they don’t know what they’re missing,” Akard mentioned.
