Winnie Lester had a dream, and on her 94th birthday, she lived it.
She went skydiving.
Lester is a resident at Cypress Place Senior Living in Ventura, which has a program called Livin’ the Dream. Its goal is to provide residents with the opportunity to fulfill a dream they’ve always had.
“When I was 80, I saw that George Bush Sr. jumped when he turned 90,” Lester told program organizers, according to Mike Macke, community marketing director of Cypress Place. “If he can do it, I can do it.”
So Kathy Vernon-Cole, whose title at Cypress Place is “vibrant life director,” got together with Lester’s granddaughter, Christi, and Skydive Coastal Camarillo at Camarillo Airport. They arranged for both the jump and for a birthday party at the landing site.
As she came back to the ground, Lester was met by Cypress Place residents and staff members, a large, cheering contingent of her family and friends, birthday cake and candles.
“I loved it, I loved it, I loved it,” she said, according to Macke, struggling to regain her equilibrium.
