Peg was 90 years old when she was no longer able to live alone and moved into a senior community. Peg graduated from the University of Michigan before it was common for women to go to college. She was a pilot all of her adult life, again not a common pursuit for women at that time. Peg truly lived a remarkable life.
Peg was struggling with memory-loss and she was longing for the sense of achievement that had inspired her to lead such a fulfilling life. Upon hearing Peg’s story, we at A Life Celebrated thought that revisiting experiences from the past might allow her to find herself in a lost memory. Our wish-makers took Peg to the airport hangar that she had used throughout her days as a pilot. During the car ride Peg was able to remember the hangar’s number: “Fifty-two, fifty-two!” she said over and over until she arrived.
It was Peg’s good friend Jim, also a former pilot, who volunteered to take her for a ride. When she got in the airplane Peg put on her headset and began going over the pre-flight checklist for Jim without missing a beat. Her dream was to fly one last time, and A Life Celebrated helped make her dream a reality.