Retired teacher becomes biker chick

A spry, white-haired woman with bright blue eyes slid into the sidecar of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Sporting a Harley-Davidson tattoo around her right arm and wearing a Rolling Thunder T-shirt, Lorena Schmidt smiled from ear to ear.

“This is good,” she yelled to the driver. “Let’s go to St. Pete.”

She gave her friends a thumbs up as she drove by a small crowd gathered in front of Jupiter Village, an assisted-living community in Cape Coral.

It was the best present a 102-year-old retired teacher could have asked for, she said.

Lorena wanted to do something she’d never done in honor of her 102 birthday, which is June 13.

“I’ve never been on a bike of any kind,” she said.

She told Daisy Godbe, activities director at Juniper Village, about her wish and Daisy set the wheels in motion.

Bobby Wallaver and his friends from the Rolling Thunder Chapter 10 of Naples roared into town to take Lorena on a once-in-a-lifetime birthday ride.

Once Lorena’s ride was over, almost two dozen residents stood in line to get a turn.

“I was flabbergasted,” Bobby said. “I wished it would never end.”

Everybody noticed an extra bounce in Lorena’s step after her motorcycle ride.

“Yes, I saw her with her nose stuck in the air,” said her friend and dining companion, Majoria Binau, 94, who did not take a spin on the bike. They both live at Jupiter Village.

“She looks like a tough little hussie.”

Majoria and Lorena eat most of their meals together.

“She’s got a hearty appetite,” Majoria said. “She likes everything.”

The two women spend a lot of time joking and laughing – and always enjoying dessert.

“Eat today, diet tomorrow,” Lorena said as she dug into a piece of pecan pie.

Lorena has always been fully engaged in her life.

She was raised in Dunkirk, N.Y., and has one daughter, Alicia Schmidt of Cape Coral, who she talks to every day.

She moved to the Cape 45 years ago and worked as a second-grade teacher at Cape Elementary. Before that she taught in elementary school at Dunkirk.

A student from New York recently contacted her and told her his age.

“I told him, ‘I don’t care how old your father is, how old are you?’ ”

“He told me he was a retired farmer and he was 82 years old.”

She doesn’t know how everyone has gotten so old. She feels strong and doesn’t have any significant health problems, she said.

“I used to swing from my hips and now I swing from my ankles,” she said with a smile.

She knows how fortunate she is and is grateful for her health, faith and sense of humor.

“I try not to brag, knock on wood and kiss my thumb,” she said.

She could brag just a little bit. She’s now an honorary member of the Rolling Thunder Chapter 10.

“They better respect me, baby,” she said about the residents at Jupiter Village. “Or I’ll get my gang after them.”