AT 101, CAPE WOMAN GIVEN HER FIRST PLANE RIDE

On Monday Olivia Glueck took her first plane ride.

The 101-year-old thought it was just great. "It was a highlight of my life," she said.

In preparing for Glueck's 101st birthday, which was Sunday, employees at Cape Girardeau Residential Care Center, where Glueck lives, asked if there was something she wanted to do but had never done.

"She thought about it and said she hadn't flown," said Shamela Limbaugh, administrator at Cape Girardeau Residential Care Center.

So Limbaugh called Bruce Loy, manager of Cape Girardeau Regional Airport.

"I've gotten requests from young kids interested in flying," Loy said. "But this was the first request I'd gotten for a 101-year-old."

Loy arranged for pilot John Ellis to give Glueck a ride.

The flight was originally scheduled for Glueck's birthday on Sunday but had to be postponed because of strong winds.

But when Monday dawned clear and calm, it was off to the airport for Glueck and a small crowd of friends and relatives.

"I'm ready as I'm ever going to be," Glueck said as she walked using a walker to the waiting four-seater airplane.

Glueck has broken both hips since she was 90, her granddaughters said. But she remains spry, alert and always ready to go, said Norma Welch, one of Glueck's granddaughters.

During the 15-minute flight, Glueck was flown over Kelso, the town where she lived most of her life. She could see the building that housed St. Augustine Catholic School where she cooked in the cafeteria for 35 years.

She said she saw many other things, "but I didn't know what it all was."

Accompanying Glueck on the plane ride was her great-granddaughter Leah Shrum.

"This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience," Shrum said. "It was great to be with her when she was flying for the first time."

With relatives snapping pictures and shooting video footage, Shrum said Monday's flight produced some wonderful memories.

Glueck said she lives life one day at a time, so she hasn't given any thought to what she will do at 102 to top this year's birthday airplane ride.

"I never thought I'd get this far," she said.