SOLON, Ohio–Jim May’s garage is filled with a number of items he’s collected over the years.
Yet, one worn, old piece of metal stands out: his daughter’s old Huffy three-speed.
“It was rusty. It rusted,” he said. “Of course, it hadn’t been used for years, but it’s a beauty. They don’t make them like this anymore.”
For more than 20 years, the bright-blue bicycle was a favorite pastime of his late daughter, Maureen
“Of course, she fell in love with it, started driving up and down our driveway,” he said.
Maureen had down syndrome and diabetes. She passed away last summer at 52 years old.
“There’s a lot of traffic,” he said, pointing to the road. “I got the yellow paint and I painted a nice, broad yellow band there and you don’t go any further than that yellow line.”
Every summer, Maureen would take the bike out for a spin, but in recent years, it hasn’t got much use.
After her passing, Jim decided to donate the bicycle, but he took it to Geiger’s Ski and Sport Haus in Chagrin Falls for repairs.
“The tricycle was quite old,” said Jim Nelson, a bike mechanic who helped with the repairs. “It sat for a while, had rust on the fenders. We cleaned up the rust and the dents to restore it to be safe and operable for people to use it.”
But when Jim came to the store to pay and retrieve the bike, he got a bit of a surprise: the mechanics volunteered their service.
“You’re donating it,” said store manager Chris Newman. “We’d love to do this for free. And that’s what we did. We repaired it, and now it’s being used by folks. It’s best that the bike be used instead of being left in a shed.”
Jim said the repairs would have likely cost him hundreds, and the bike’s never looked better.
It’s now equipped with a basket and small plate that reads, “In Loving Memory of Maureen Ellen May.”
Now, Jim is ready to donate it to the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities so others like Maureen can take life by the handle bars.
“I just hope some lady gets it and has a ball with it and has as much fun with it as my daughter did. That’s all,” he said.