110th Anniversary Look Back

110th Anniversary Look Back - Day 35

Today we skip back to May 4, 2019 when a bunch of you area riders joined us for a ride and helped make a dying man's final wish come true!

#kegel365 #harleydavidson #kegelhd #worldsoldest #365daysofkegelhd

From WREX:

Bikers help man get last wish to take final ride on a motorcycle

ROCKFORD (WREX) – Outside the quiet halls of Fairhaven Retirement Home, the roar of engines filled the air Saturday morning.

One by one hundreds of bikers rode up to the facility, all to help Jim Ostrander take a ride one last time.

“He deserves it, after everything he has been through for the past two years, for sure,” Ostrander’s daughter Melissa Kehoe said.

Ostrander rode motorcycles his whole life, but after suffering several health issues over the past two years, including dementia, he’s been unable to get out on the road.

“It’s something that meant a lot to him,” Kehoe said. “Church was the main, important thing with him and family and then motorcycles were a close second.”

That’s why his his family and social worker teamed up to help get him back behind the handlebars. But, what started out as a simple post on Facebook, quickly spread through the biker community.

“I was thinking it would just reach my family and friends and with in the first day i got 800 shares and it really exploded more ever than i expected it too,” Ostrander’s social worker.

Ostrander’s love for motorcycles touched many, including Lyle Brubaker, the man who drove Ostrander on his last ride

“Someone got a hold of me this week and said there is a guy that wants to go a ride on a motorcycle and they needed a side car and I said ‘No problem. I’d be happy to do it,'” Brubaker said.

A ride that Ostrander’s daughter says he’s been wanting for a long time.

“Being on a bike again that is all he really wants,” Kehoe said.

And at the end of the ride his smile said it all.

“Today was great,” Ostrander said.

More than 250 bikers joined Ostrander for his last ride.