A group called Never Too Late helped set up a special 100th birthday gift -- the woman's first motorcycle ride.

By NICK WERNER
nwerner@muncie.gannett.com

PARKER CITY -- With an "Aged to Perfection" ribbon tacked to her sweater and a tight white perm, Margaret Embree defied the normal biker-babe stereotypes.

But Embree looked ready for Sturgis after friends and family draped a black, leather-fringe jacket around her 82-pound frame and sat her in the sidecar of a Harley-Davidson Road King.

Embree celebrated her 100th birthday Tuesday and rode on a motorcycle for the first time. 

She returned home after the 30-minute trip from Parker City to Farmland and back and proclaimed the ride was much nicer than she'd expected.

"It was wonderful," she said. "I never dreamed I'd make it to 100."

The trip was made possible by Never Too Late, an Indianapolis organization that helps make dreams come true for people in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities and senior citizens.

In Delaware County alone, the organization's work has included arranging a meeting between a 101-year-old basketball fan and a former Pacers star, introducing a 50-year-old woman suffering from multiple sclerosis to singer Kenny Rogers and taking a 90-year-old man on his first flight.

Never Too Late has also taken seniors skydiving and raced them around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 170-plus mph, said Bob Haverstick, the group's founder.

Embree's nephew Bob Smith and his wife, Cindy, both of Avon, contacted Never Too Late in March after the group was featured in a television news program.

On two occasions, Embree mentioned to her nephew that she wanted to ride in a motorcycle sidecar, he said.

Bob joined the ride on his Honda Goldwing and smiled with admiration for his aunt afterward.

"I hope I'm doing that good when I'm 80, let alone 100," he said.

Friends and family estimated that Embree is likely the oldest woman living in Parker City who is not under the care of a nearby assisted-living center.

The Alexandria native lives on her own and enjoys watching Jeopardy and finishing crossword puzzles daily, her family said.

Embree graduated from Muncie Central High School in 1925 and worked for Ontario Manufacturing for 25 years.

Todd Garvison, Fort Wayne, who had worked with Never Too Late on a previous ride, provided the motorcycle. Jim Bailey's Harley-Davidson of Fort Wayne donated the extra-small jacket.

"It's so cool that she wants to go for a ride," Garvison said before the trip. "It's unreal."

Embree sent Garvison on his way Tuesday morning with an indication that the pair were not done riding together.

"See you next year," she said as he rode away. 

Contact news reporter Nick Werner at 213-5832.


Originally published June 21, 2006