Life in the Fast Lane
The day may have dawned overcast, but the sun was shining in Eve Stovall’s heart and face. Stovall, a resident of Heritage at Gaines Ranch in Austin took a ride of a lifetime on Saturday, September 6, 2009.
The "leader of the pack" in a yellow Corvette convertible, driven by a member of the Longhorn Corvette Club, Stovall was driven from Heritage at Gaines Ranch down MoPac Expressway to the State Capitol and back again – therefore fulfilling her wish for an "experience of a lifetime."
Residents at selected Brookdale Senior Living communities nationwide, including Heritage at Gaines Ranch, a Brookdale Senior Living independent and assisted living community, were given the opportunity to share and submit their wishes as part of a program called Experiences of a Lifetime.
They filled out a survey form explaining an experience they would like to have fulfilled and how that related to one or more dimensions of the company’s Optimum Life® concept, which is geared toward cultivating whole-person wellness through fulfillment in six key dimensions: physical, emotional, purposeful, social, spiritual, and intellectual.
The company collected residents’ dreams and will provide a helping hand in making some come true. Stovall’s experience is the first experience the company is making come true. |
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Her wish was, "I wish, today, just to ride down MoPac in a yellow Corvette convertible."
On the day of her experience, Stovall rode in the official pace car in 1986 of the Indy 500, a yellow corvette. She returned from her ride and attended a reception in her honor at the community. The reception featured hors d’ oeuvres, refreshments and musical entertainment by Chad Thomas and the Crazy Kings. Stovall was also presented with a Mayoral Proclamation that declared that day, Sept. 6, "Eve Stovall’s Experience of a Lifetime." In addition, The Longhorn Corvette Club declared Stovall an honorary member of the Corvette Club.
"This day is the happiest day of my life, fulfilling my wish to have one more ride in my dream car, a yellow corvette," said Stovall. "The love of a yellow corvette knows no age."
In her winning essay, Stovall tells how she has been a dreamer all her life. She played a game of watching cars, and pretended to own a certain dream car. When she grew up, she worked for the cars she owned.
One of her most significant cars was a " ‘lil red Chevy Corvette,’ which her husband called a ‘menopause fling.’ "It helped with the hot flashes and depression symptoms," said Stovall. "I drove it for 15 years."
"Words cannot describe this first Experience of a Lifetime," said Sara Terry, vice president of Optimum Life® for Brookdale. "Eve is truly having an experience that she will be talking about forever."
Back to Experiences of a Lifetime Main Page
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