The State reports: Woman, 84, gets the ride of her life for birthday

BUCKHEAD RIDGE, Fla. - What do you get an 84-year-old lady for her birthday? That's what Carol Brown was thinking a few weeks ago. Her mother, June Pearce, was turning 84. The idea of buying and giving more stuff just didn't appeal to Brown.

"When you're 84, what is there?" she thought.

Pearce lives in a slow-paced retirement area near Lake Okeechobee in rural Florida. She's been married to the same man, Fred, for 64 years. Pearce is a wife and a mother. She's had a few strokes, which have robbed her mind of short-term memories. Lung cancer has claimed much of her strength.

But one memory has stuck with her: riding on the back of a boy's motorcycle in the 1930s.

"I wasn't scared at all," Pearce remembers.