Donkey Dream Comes True

Posted: June 6, 2007

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Donkey dream comes true

By AMANDA DUMOND

Democrat Staff Writer

adumond@fosters.com

John Huff/Staff photographer

Copywrite with permission - Foster's Daily Democrat

GRACE NOEL, 99, fulfills her wish to pet a donkey during a visit to Grand Finale Farm in Barrington Wednesday afternoon. The Ageless Dreamer Foundation made it happen.

BARRINGTON — Grace Noel was quite the horsewoman in her day, but she had never been near a donkey until Wednesday afternoon.

The Ageless Dreamer Foundation made it possible for her and several other senior citizens from the Wentworth Home in Dover to travel to the Grand Finale Farm in Barrington to pet the donkeys there. Foundation Executive Director Beth Fischer said her organization is like Make- -A-Wish Foundation for those 70 and older and it recently set a goal of granting two wishes a week to senior citizens.

Noel, 99, of Dover mentioned to her personal nurse at the Wentworth Home last fall that she would like to ride a donkey. Since she is not as spry as when she owned two horses and lived in a farmhouse on Old Rochester Road in Dover, family and friends convinced her to settle for a visit with the donkeys.

Her wish started to circulate among the staff and then the board of directors at the retirement home. They contacted the Ageless Dreamer Foundation, Fischer said, who arranged the trip.

Every senior who walked off the bus at the farm Wednesday had big smiles on their faces, but those grins were no larger than Noel's. To add a festive look to the occasion, Noel put on a sombrero and sunglasses before entering the donkey pen.

"I don't know when I've enjoyed anything more," she said as she patted Moxie, a mammoth donkey, and moved on to say hello to Jeff Gordon, a miniature donkey foal. "They're very patient (animals)."

John Huff/Staff photographer The Ageless Dreamer Foundation makes Grace Noel's dream of petting donkeys come true as the take her for a visit to Grand Finale Farm in Barrington Wednesday afternoon.

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Farm owner Roberta Henderson said she had a NASCAR theme in mind when she named the foals this spring.

"I think that this is just wonderful," she said of the foundation's efforts to grant Noel's wish. "I think if you asked elderly people more, they'd tell you there are things they'd like to do that they've never done before."

Visiting the donkey farm was a great activity for senior citizens, Henderson added, because the animals are gentle and don't mind having people around.

"You'd never be able to do this with horses," she noted. "People think donkeys are stubborn, but they're not. They're just cautious."

Henderson sells her miniature donkeys to people across the area who find them to be ideal pets.

Noel's son, Harvey, and his wife, Carol, also joined the group of seniors at the farm. He can remember when his mother owned and boarded horses at the farmhouse and she always had dogs.

"She loves animals, and she loves to feed the birds all the time (at the retirement home,)" he said.

Noel agreed animals are important to her, and that's why she had the desire to be near a donkey. Thanks to the retirement home staff's attentiveness and the foundation's coordination her dream came true.

What's next for the animal lover and soon to be great-great-grandmother? Her family is planning a big 100th birthday celebration for her in August.

"I'm leaving that up to the family (to organize)," she said.

Following the visit to the Grand Finale Farm, Noel and her fellow senior citizens also enjoyed a Mexican-themed party at the Wentworth Home.

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