by Sandra HobanWidowed resident soars like an eagle
| Photo courtesy of Manni Dwyer |
Eagle’s Trace, an Erickson Living community in Houston, Texas, is home to a very adventurous 85-year-old woman, Leauise Graves. Married for 62 years, her husband, David, passed away in June. Together, they shared an exciting life traveling the world. They even had the opportunity to visit and explore Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. Although suddenly finding herself alone, her spirit of adventure continues.
To fulfill a dream of skydiving, Graves scheduled an appointment with Skydive Texas Beaches’ instructor David Hejl. Twice postponed by bad weather, the big day finally arrived on June 16. With 45 minutes of training, Graves boarded the Cessna 182J wide-body airplane that would take her up 10,000 feet. “I thought I would be scared standing on the edge of the plane,” she said, “but incredibly, I wasn’t.”
This jump was not only a wish fulfillment, but Graves made it a shared adventure with her husband by spreading some of his ashes and she rode the air currents. Personally, I think once would be enough, but Graves is made of stronger stuff—she’s planning to celebrate her 86th birthday with an encore jump from 14,000 feet.
I’ll be happy to just look at the pictures.
Sandra Hoban was on I Advance Senior Care / Long-Term Living’s editorial staff for 17 years. She is one of the country’s longest-serving senior care journalists. Before joining Long-Term Living, she was a member of the promotions department at Advanstar Communications. In addition to her editorial experience, Sandi has served past roles in print and broadcast advertising as a traffic and talent coordinator.
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