Boonville biker takes one last ride | GALLERY By Erin McCracken Posted August 9, 2013 at 5:54 p.m. .Discuss Print A A A Share this on Facebook Tweet this Email this to a friend . Photographs by ERIN MCCRACKEN / COURIER & PRESS Duane Gaddis, 78, waves as he rides on the back of Ron Byrley’s Harley down Morgan Avenue to Bud’s Harley-Davidson store on Friday. Gaddis, a resident of Woodmont Health Campus in Boonville, Ind., was an avid Harley rider up until he got ill four years ago and was no longer able to ride. For more than 50 years Gaddis logged more than 500,000 miles on his bike riding from Alaska to Maine and all over the country. Photo by Erin McCracken // Buy this photo Photographs by ERIN MCCRACKEN / COURIER & PRESS Duane Gaddis, 78, waves as he rides on the back of Ron Byrley’s Harley down Morgan Avenue to Bud’s Harley-Davidson store on Friday. Gaddis, a resident of Woodmont Health Campus in Boonville, Ind., was an avid Harley rider up until he got ill four years ago and was no longer able to ride. For more than 50 years Gaddis logged more than 500,000 miles on his bike riding from Alaska to Maine and all over the country. Boonville biker gets one last ride. AMELIA CHONG / SPECIAL TO COURIER & PRESS Duane Gaddis, 78, rides with Ron Byrley, commander of the Boonville American Legion, outside the Bud’s Harley-Davidson store on Friday. Gaddis, a Boonville resident, is a former member of the chapter and until four years ago, was still traveling around the county on his motorcycle. He had been a regular customer of Bud’s for 50 years. He now lives in an assisted living facility, which arranged for him to make a trip to the store to receive a 110th-Harley-Davidson-anniversary jacket from general manager Dawn Morand. Byrley drove Gaddis to and from the latter’s Boonville facility. Gaddis, center, tours Bud’s Harley-Davidson store with his daughter Terri Levine, of Indianapolis, Ind., left and Ron Byrley, commander of the American Legion in Boonville, Ind., as he looks at all the different models of Harley Davidsons. “I’ll take one of Each,” Gaddis said as he toured the store. Gaddis, a resident of Woodmont Health Campus in Boonville, Ind., was surprised by the staff at the Center with a motorcycle ride and trip to the store. The trip was part of the Health Campus’ “live a dream program” that grants residents a chance to live out a dream they thought would no longer be possible. Duane Gaddis, 78, receives a kiss from his daughter Terri Levine, of Indianapolis, Ind., after Gaddis received a leather jacket from the Bud’s Harley-Davidson store on Friday as part of the “live a dream” program with Woodmont Health Campus in Boonville, Ind., where Gaddis lives. Gaddis, a life long Harley owner and rider was surprised with a chance to ride on a motorcycle again and with the jacket from the store he was a customer of for over 50 years. “ I am just so overwhelmed with everything they did for my dad,” Levine said, “I had no idea they were going to do this much.” AMELIA CHONG / SPECIAL TO COURIER & PRESS Duane Gaddis, 78, speaks with a member of the Harley Owners Group River City Chapter at the Bud’s Harley-Davidson store on Friday. Gaddis, a Boonville resident, is a former member of the chapter and until four years ago, was still traveling around the county on his motorcycle. He had been a regular customer of Bud’s for 50 years. He now lives in an assisted living facility, which arranged for him to make a trip to the store to receive a 110th-Harley-Davidson-anniversary jacket from general manager Dawn Morand. ERIN MCCRACKEN / COURIER & PRESS Jennifer Chambers, activities associate at Woodmont Health Campus, helps lead Duane Gaddis, 78, around Bud’s Harley-Davidson store one last time to look at all the bikes before he heads home on Friday. Gaddis who had to give up riding four years ago when he became ill said, “It was good to be out in the fresh air again.” See this entire gallery at full size Previous1 of 5 Next . BOONVILLE, Ind. — Duane Gaddis of Boonville, Ind., spent most of his life exploring the landscape of the country from the seat of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Over more than 50 years, he logged more than half a million miles on his bikes on roads from Alaska to Maine. “One day he got off work and decided to head to New Orleans for dinner,” his daughter, Terri Levine, recalled as he jumped on his bike an took a “short day trip.” “He would be back the next day,” she said. She remembers her dad taking off on adventures to see the country when she was as young as 3. He loved to explore. All that came to a halt four years ago when Gaddis, 78, became ill and had to give up his bike. Last year he moved to the assisted living community of Woodmont Health Campus at Boonville. Learning of his love to ride, the nurses and staff there planned a surprise for Gaddis on Friday — a ride to Bud’s Harley-Davidson on Morgan Avenue in Evansville where he received a 110th anniversary Harley leather jacket. The trip was arranged by the staff as part of Woodmont’s “Live a Dream” program, which grants dreams to residents there. The program grants dreams to any resident that wants to do something and is often funded by the campus, donations or the Health Campus’s parent company, the Trilogy Foundation. “We want residents to get the best out of life they can,” said Stacy Morris, director of resident activities at Woodmont. “We advocate for them to be active and to live life to the fullest all the way up until the end.” For his part, Gaddis thought he would never be on the back of a bike again and often reminisced about some of his favorite trips through Colorado Rockies. On Friday, he got to ride on the back of Ron Byrley’s Harley to and from the Evansville store. “ It was good to be out in the fresh air again,” Gaddis said and “feel the wind on my face.”
Posted on: Sat, 10 Aug 2013 02:47:58 +0000
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