gigabyte
December 31st, 2010, 03:11
This is a nice story from our local paper, I just had to share.
SAINT JOHN - A lifelong dream has come true for 95-year-old Ronnie O'Leary, who took his first flight on Thursday morning from the Saint John Airport. "It was thumbs up all the way," said Jeff McCully, who flew in the back of the four-seater with his daughter, Marlee, who is O'Leary's great niece. "He even got to steer."<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
The flight was a surprise Christmas gift to O'Leary - who sat in the cockpit with the pilot - from his niece, Karen McCully and her brother, Jim Gilbert.<o:p></o:p>
O'Leary has always had an obsession with planes but had never flown in one until Thursday. Because he has always enjoyed visiting the Saint John Airport to watch planes take off and land, he wouldn't have thought it unusual to be visiting the airport on Thursday, Karen McCully said. "I keep trying to tell him he's going to go up in one, but I can't make him understand," Jeff McCully said.
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O'Leary was born deaf and mute and uses simple gestures to communicate. During their flight in the four-seater Cessna Skyhawk SP, the four glided over Millidgeville to Gondola Point and west over the Bay of Fundy, getting a bird's-eye view of the city including landmarks such as the Harbour Bridge and of Rothesay Avenue, where O'Leary's homestead had been located. "We couldn't have had a better flight," Jeff McCully said. O'Leary's interest in flying goes back a long way, to before his older brother, Gerald, fought in the Second World War. Gilbert recalls that every summer, his uncle Ronnie would make him a toy plane out of wood.
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A lifelong Saint Johner, O'Leary never married or had children and, his niece says, has nearly perfect health.<o:p></o:p>
He lives at an independent retirement home in Millidgeville, doesn't take medication or wear glasses and uses a cane only because McCully asks him to.
<o:p></o:p>
Karen McCully says she follows her instinct and since her uncle is aging, decided this was the year for him to go on a flight. "I thought about this about a month before Christmas. I have learned to go with my gut."<o:p></o:p>
SAINT JOHN - A lifelong dream has come true for 95-year-old Ronnie O'Leary, who took his first flight on Thursday morning from the Saint John Airport. "It was thumbs up all the way," said Jeff McCully, who flew in the back of the four-seater with his daughter, Marlee, who is O'Leary's great niece. "He even got to steer."<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
The flight was a surprise Christmas gift to O'Leary - who sat in the cockpit with the pilot - from his niece, Karen McCully and her brother, Jim Gilbert.<o:p></o:p>
O'Leary has always had an obsession with planes but had never flown in one until Thursday. Because he has always enjoyed visiting the Saint John Airport to watch planes take off and land, he wouldn't have thought it unusual to be visiting the airport on Thursday, Karen McCully said. "I keep trying to tell him he's going to go up in one, but I can't make him understand," Jeff McCully said.
<o:p></o:p>
O'Leary was born deaf and mute and uses simple gestures to communicate. During their flight in the four-seater Cessna Skyhawk SP, the four glided over Millidgeville to Gondola Point and west over the Bay of Fundy, getting a bird's-eye view of the city including landmarks such as the Harbour Bridge and of Rothesay Avenue, where O'Leary's homestead had been located. "We couldn't have had a better flight," Jeff McCully said. O'Leary's interest in flying goes back a long way, to before his older brother, Gerald, fought in the Second World War. Gilbert recalls that every summer, his uncle Ronnie would make him a toy plane out of wood.
<o:p></o:p>
A lifelong Saint Johner, O'Leary never married or had children and, his niece says, has nearly perfect health.<o:p></o:p>
He lives at an independent retirement home in Millidgeville, doesn't take medication or wear glasses and uses a cane only because McCully asks him to.
<o:p></o:p>
Karen McCully says she follows her instinct and since her uncle is aging, decided this was the year for him to go on a flight. "I thought about this about a month before Christmas. I have learned to go with my gut."<o:p></o:p>