Superior woman flies high pursuing adventure at 93

SUPERIOR – At 93 years old, Virginia Ragsdale has lived through The Great Depression, numerous U.S. wars, political movements and the rise and fall of dozens of our nation’s leaders. Now she is living to the fullest and going on adventures while attempting to complete her bucket list. Most recently, she went up for her first helicopter ride as part of this goal.

Ragsdale is a delightful woman who is sharp as a whip with a great sense of humor and just loves to help people. Though initially reluctant to share her story, once Ragsdale learned how it would help my career as a journalist and be an inspiration to others she quickly agreed.

Ragsdale explained the idea for the flight came about when a friend related her experience riding in a helicopter as a member of the volunteer fire department. She said her friend loved it and the descriptions sounded exciting.

“It sounded so good to me that I … said ‘gee, that would be fun’ and she said ‘yes, why don’t you do it?’,” said Ragsdale.

She thought “why not?” and put the goal on her bucket list. At the time, however, she did not know what the term ‘bucket list’ referred to. She said that, once this came out, her friends started kidding her about the meaning.

“[They told me] that they were going to put me in the bucket and lower me down in the river,” she said.

The term’s real meaning, a list of goals to do before you ‘kick the bucket,’ was described to her and arrangements were made to make the ride happen. So, on Saturday about two weeks ago, Ragsdale, her daughter and a friend went up for their first helicopter flight out of Homestead Airport in Missoula.

She said the pilot and mechanic of the helicopter were “just super” and delightful. The pilot let her sit in the co-pilot’s seat and showed her the controls with an explanation of what everything did.

The flight was very enjoyable and nothing in it bothered her. However, according to Ragsdale, her daughter and friend, who had to be coaxed into going on the ride too, didn’t like the little bit of turbulence the helicopter encountered. She said they all had a lot of fun and really enjoyed it.

“It was great, I loved it,” said Ragsdale. “I’d do it again.”

She said the pilot flew them all over the area, going out around Rattlesnake and covering much of the Clark Fork Valley. The pilot took them out over Mount Sentinel and Mount Jumbo and brought the helicopter down on top of the mountains. According to Ragsdale, they were almost close enough to touch the peaks.

“I felt like I could reach out and touch the turrets,” she said. “It was remarkable.”

She considers herself a fairly adventurous person and said she could not even begin to tell about all the things she has done, though she said this is one of the more adventurous. While she has no new plans at present, saying she is still coming down from the helicopter ride, Ragsdale has every intention of going out and having many more adventures in her life.

Ragsdale has lived a full life and believes that others should go out to have adventures in their own lives.

“I would encourage any other elderly person to do what they would like to do, before the bucket thing,” she said.