Sure, a “lifetime experience” is a cliche, but not when it comes from the mouth of a 101-year-old woman.
Ella Bradbury, 101, used the phrase to describe her recent helicopter ride.
“It was a real lifetime experience,” she said. “Seeing all the trees and houses from just up above was really marvelous.”
Bradbury, a Stratford native, was one of a dozen senior citizens from Wesley Village who took turns taking a helicopter tour of the Valley Aug. 20.
Wesley Village is a senior citizen community on Long Hill Avenue.
The flight was part of the community’s “Journey of Dreams” program. Every few months a wish is granted for a Wesley Village resident. A committee decides who gets their wish granted.
The helicopter request came from 80-year-old Charlie Karpowicz.
In his younger days, Karpowicz worked with the army to repair radar sets. He said helicopters were used to transport parts, and he had always been in awe of them.
During his first — and previously only — trip in a helicopter had him shoved in the back with some radar parts.
Karpowicz’ trip last week was a dream come true. The seven-minute ride in a Schweizer 300CB was “like being in an open sled, looking over the world.”
“It was not as noisy as I expected it. The helicopters of past, they were noisy, and the cabins weren’t soundproof,” Karpowicz said.
While the trip was his idea, Wesley Village invited any other residents who wanted to go along.
Pavel Bortnovskiy, co-owner of Air Ocean Aviation in Wallingford, piloted the two-passenger helicopter.
Normally, Bortnovskiy flies passengers from point A to point B, he said. This ride was for fun.
He said that while there was some trepidation about the flight among the seniors, the whole group was smiling by the end of the day.
“Some had a hard time walking, so we had to walk them carefully to the aircraft, strap them in, then carry them out, but nobody freaked,” Bortnovskiy said.
Last year, another resident’s wish was granted when the staff took several residents up in a hot air balloon. Bradbury went along on that trip too, she said.
But other wishes don’t necessarily involve travel.
Julile Norko, a spokeswoman for Wesley Village, said that one woman’s wish was to have her closets cleaned, and the staff arranged for that to happen. Another woman had the chance to do a live weather report on WTNH.
The wishes are granted through community support — whether it be donations of time, labor or money.
To that end, Wesley Village is sponsoring a 5K Road Race on Saturday, starting at 9 a.m., to benefit the Journey of Dreams program.
More information can be found at www.umh.org.
While nothing’s official some Wesley Village folks are already whispering about next year’s possible adventure — skydiving.
