Grandma’s Packin’ ... A Parachute

This past weekend, Newtonian Eloise Dykstra did something few people half her age get to do. She went skydiving.

“It’s just something I got to thinking about doing,” she said. “So, if I was going to do it, I thought I’d better get it done now. I just called and set up the date.”

Calling up and scheduling a skydiving outing isn’t something most people do. They especially don’t do it when they are 88 years young. But it’s far from the first adventure she’s had over the years.

“I go riding on a motorcycle with my grandson,” she said. “My husband used to have a motorcycle, so it’s something I like to do.”

Usually each summer, Eloise hops on an inner tube and floats down the Raccoon River. This year, however, drought conditions made that sort of trip all but impossible. But she loves to be with her family.

“I love to do anything I can with my kids and grandkids,” she said. “My husband also had a twin-engine airplane when we lived on the farm.”

The farm in question, situated between Newton and Monroe, is where Eloise was born and grew up. She and her husband, Laurel, farmed there for many years themselves until his health issues forced them to move into town, first to Monroe, then to Newton.

Eloise still owns the farm.

And, when she isn’t picking death-defying stunts to do with her children and grandchildren, she likes to refurbish old furniture and home furnishings. One project in particular was refurbishing the kitchen cupboards.

“That one took quite a while,” she said. “I had to take off each door and take it into the garage to work on them. If I have two end tables, I might do both of them at the same time. Right now, I’m in the process of getting a new countertop in the kitchen. So, I took off the backsplash and leveled it, so then my grandson could finish it.”

Eloise isn’t what one could consider a fair-weather adventurer, either. Each winter, she travels south like so many of her friends do, to a mobile home park in Florida. There she plays the court organ for a small band.

“There’s a woman who plays the big organ, and her husband plays the horn,” she said. “There’s another woman who plays the drums. We play for coffee twice a week and then at the street dance they have each year.”

“It’s just something we do for fun.”

Bob Eschliman can be contacted at (641) 792-3121 ext. 423 or via email at beschliman@newtondailynews.com.