91-Year-Old Checks Off Bizarre Bucket-List Item

Accident reconstruction officer made dream a reality
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 4, 2015 2:09 AM CDT
Updated Jun 7, 2015 11:55 AM CDT
91-Year-Old Checks Off Bizarre Bucket List Item
Walter Thomas poses at his home in Woodstock, Ill., yesterday.   (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)

Thanks to a dedicated grandson, Illinois man Walter Thomas finally has an answer to a question that he has pondered for many of his 91 years. He "told me a long time ago that he always wanted to back a car through the garage door," granddaughter Becky Goers tells the Woodstock Independent. "He always wondered if the garage door would pop off, or if the frame would come down with it." After hearing about the bizarre "bucket list" item, Goers' brother—an accident reconstruction officer for the county sheriff's office—set to work making it happen, obtaining an old car and finding friends who were about to demolish a garage, the Independent reports.

Last Sunday, as family members that included great-grandchildren and his wife of 70 years looked on, Thomas put on a crash helmet and backed right through the wooden garage door with his grandson sitting in the passenger seat, reports the Independent, which notes that while the door was smashed, the frame stayed up. "I hit the gas, squealed the tires, and bang—we went through the door," a satisfied Thomas tells the AP. It's not clear whether there are any items left on his bucket list, but he says taking down that garage door will be hard to top. (A New York City man took his dying dog on an epic "bucket list" road trip.)

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