Joan Jones, 79, is in the lap of luxury in a 2014 Corvette that, since she suffers from
Alzheimer’s, is one of the few things that brings her alive. Photo courtesy of Brenda Samonds

by Dave Bakke as republished from The State Journal Register

Dateline October 2015: The shiny silver 2014 Corvette sitting on the Freedom car sales lot in Virden, Illinois never fails to catch Joan Jones’ eye. Joan, 79, is in the latter stages of Alzheimer’s disease. She lives at Pleasant Hill Village, an assisted living facility in Girard . Her daughter, Brenda Samonds, lives in Glenarm. She takes her mom for drives in the country because Joan seems to like that.

Eventually, they get on Illinois 4 back to Girard, and that’s when that Corvette catches Joan’s attention when not much else does. Brenda says that when her mom sees that car, she says, “Boy, that’s a neat car. I’d sure like to drive that.”

Brenda pulled into the Freedom lot Wednesday. She met sales associate Bryan LaMarr and told him the story of her mom and that car.

“She asked me if it would be possible,” Bryan says, “if she went and got her mother, and we could help her get in and out, could she take her mom for a short ride?”

Bryan’s thoughts went to his own father. Toward the end of his life, Bryan’s dad was edging into dementia.

“He was starting to slip away,” Bryan says. “I just hate that. It’s just nothing more than a long goodbye.”

Bryan ran Brenda’s unusual request past his manager, came back out and told Brenda to go get her mom. He would have the Corvette ready for them when they returned.

Joan was excited when they arrived at the Freedom lot and she was told she was going for a ride in that car.

“Bryan helped me get her in the car and showed me how the car works,” Brenda says. “Mom loved the thrill of the ride and the sound of the engine.”

Every time they took off from a stop sign, that Chevy Corvette engine would roar and Joan would smile. They were out about half an hour.

“When we got back, Bryan ran out to help me get her out,” Brenda says. “They talked about the car ride and other cars on the lot.”

Bryan could see the gratitude in Joan’s eyes. “That made it worth it to me,” he says.

Joan’s short-term memory is gone. It’s likely that today she has no recollection of that Corvette ride.

“We live for the moment,” Brenda says. “She normally doesn’t remember from one moment to the next. But this had an impact.”

The effects of Alzheimer’s on the brain aren’t fully understood. Let’s hope that there will be a moment, while looking out the window of her room in Girard, when Joan catches a flash of silver in the sunlight and it triggers … something in her remaining ability to remember, something that will bring even a brief smile at a memory of a warm fall afternoon in a beautiful, shiny car with a roaring engine.