Seniors live out aviation dreams

The pilot of a 1942 Boeing Stearman held his passenger’s cane as Jack Taylor, 84, worked with two people to get into the cockpit Monday morning.

The vintage biplane carrying Taylor took off from the Glacier Jet Center toward Big Mountain and flew along the edge of Whitefish Lake before circling back to the airport to pick up the next of the six remaining passengers, who ranged from 77 to 91 years old.

Ageless Aviation Dreams Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to seniors and U.S. military veterans, had selected the seven residents of The Springs at Whitefish to have the chance to fly. It was the first time the foundation had paired with The Springs to take the seniors above the Flathead Valley.

After the Stearman landed, Taylor worked his stiff legs down the plane’s wing and grinned toward his wife. “Just like I remembered,” he said.

Taylor, a retired Army master sergeant, locked eyes with the person next in line. “It’s really something,” he said. “The air is the best part — you feel every move and every turn.”

Foundation Event Coordinator Diane Winterboer said the nonprofit, founded in 2011, hosts roughly 600 flights throughout the United States each year. She said three volunteers cover the nation, one on the West Coast, another reaching central states and the third covering the East Coast.

Winterboer said for roughly 200 flights a year, she volunteers to organize the trips and her husband, Mike, pilots the participants.

“We believe in giving back to our seniors and especially our veterans,” Winterboer said. “These are women and men who have given up a lot of their liberties by moving into assisted or long-term living. This gives them some of the freedoms back they may feel like they’ve lost.”

The participants included a retired therapist, a former seaman from the Coast Guard Reserve and an ex-railroad worker who lived in Montana his entire life.

Phyllis Bouton, 83, sat at the edge of the group wearing large sunglasses and a joker-like rainbow-colored hat.

“I’m from New York. When I packed a bag to meet my daughter out here, this hat made it,” Bouton said.

Bouton said she had gotten the hat with her sister one night nearly 50 years ago. She kept it because it was a reminder not to take life too seriously — it was a reminder to stick out and have fun, she said.

“No one knows what’s going to happen in the next second,” Bouton said. “That’s why I’m going to fly … You never know when it’s going to be your last ride.”

Kay Taylor, 85, watched her husband, Jack, as he walked away from the plane.

“I surprised him with a couples jet ride for our anniversary one year — maybe 10 years ago,” she said. “We’re both widows, but we’ve been married 21 years and are very in love.”

She said in the last year, each has experienced health complications — her husband had heart problems and she faced a series of health concerns, including multiple knee and hip surgeries.

The accumulation of doctors, injuries and complications led the couple to sell their Helena home — which they had moved into as newlyweds — and move into The Springs to recover and live closer to family.

“We’ve always been active, had adventures,” she said. “Age may have slowed my husband and I down, but we’re getting that back.”

As her husband came off the flight, he hugged her and said, “You’re going to love it.”

Jack Taylor said he remembered the day his wife told him to bring a jacket on their anniversary. He said he had no idea where she was taking him.

“We used to switch every year, one would plan the date and the other only got to know what they needed to wear — hiking boots, nice clothes or whatever,” he said. “We haven’t done that for a few years, but we should do it again. Our anniversary is August 4 … we still haven’t been in a hot air balloon.”

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.