88-year-old woman enjoys 'bucket list' helicopter ride

Ruth Simpson had the trip of a lifetime Sunday, thanks to some local help and coordination.

The 88-year-old Simpson took her first helicopter ride ever, zipping up to Lexington to take in a show before being flown back to the Lake Cumberland Regional Airport.

And the Somerset resident had a very specific outlook about the day.

“I enjoyed the show, but the helicopter ride was the main event to me,” she said.

In fact, Simpson said she wants to do it again, this time to take a helicopter around to see the whole of Lake Cumberland and Wolf Creek Dam.

The trip was arranged by Comfort Keepers, Lifeline Home Health and Second Wind Dreams.

Sarah Short of Comfort Keepers explained, “The philosophy of that is even though you’re aging, you still have hopes and dreams. And, hopefully, Ruth has inspired younger people to see that we can still have fun even when we’re aging.”

“It’s a day I’ll never forget,” Simpson said, but added that she wasn’t sure why she was chosen to be given so much help in completing this particular “bucket list” item.

“I feel like Comfort Keepers had arranged all this for me. I said, ‘Why me?’” Simpson asked.

“And we said, ‘Why not you?’” Short replied.

The day began with Jerri English, her Comfort Keeper, picking Simpson up and driving her to the airport.

Once there, Simpson was surrounded by family and friends who cheered her on as she was getting ready to take off in the helicopter.

“It meant a lot to me,” she said of seeing the group. Her nephew even gave her a heart-shaped card to celebrate the day.

She was helped into a helicopter, piloted by someone whom Short said wanted to be known simply as “a generous pilot.”

Simpson said her first-ever helicopter ride was smooth sailing – not the bumpy ride some of her family was afraid it would be.

“They guy that flew the helicopter, he was super nice. and he put the headphones on me so he could talk to me and tell me what we were flying over. … I couldn’t believe how green everything looked,” Simpson said, adding that “everything looked like a perfect lawn.”

The weather stayed perfect, despite the threat of rain all around them.

“We had two thunderstorms, one on each side. and the one to the west was really dark. Oh, it just looked really bad. [The pilot] said, ‘I can get you through it.’ and he did. There was maybe just a few sprinkles on the windshield.”

Flying into the Bluegrass Airport in Lexington, the group found that they were not the only VIPs visiting that day, as Short pointed out that Air Force One, military helicopters and Secret Service personnel were all over the airport as well.

(This was likely due to a planned trip by President Joe Biden, who was scheduled to visit eastern Kentucky and the flooded areas.)

From the airport, an Uber took Simpson and her group to the Lexington Opera House, where she got to see the musical “Chicago.”

This was another first, as Simpson said she had always wanted to see a live play like that.

“The opera house was beautiful,” Simpson said, and added that the performance was good.

The flight from Somerset to Lexington took about 30 minutes, she said. “I thought, ‘This is so beautiful, to be up here and see it all.’ You drive in a car, compared to that you don’t see anything,” she said.

All in all, the day was one she said she’s not likely to forget. Even though she returned home by about 4:30 p.m., all the excitement made her miss her bed time.

“I didn’t go to bed till 10:30,” she said, noting that her usual bedtime is around 7:30 p.m.