For Vicki Riley Wyatt of Mt. Juliet, age is just a number.
The sprightly, petite, blue-eyed, blonde resident of Rutland Place has never had a fear of heights; in fact, she has always wanted to jump from a high place, “just to experience it.”
Wyatt reached new heights and checked off an item on her lifelong bucket list by falling from the sky this summer to mark her 90th birthday.
This woman boarded a plane in Waverly on Memorial Day “just to do what I dreamed of.” Wyatt free-fell 14,000 feet. She said she never felt scared once.
“Well, there were about 10 people on the plane who wanted to jump,” she said. “I had on a suit that wasn’t really small enough. But it was secure. I had wide straps all over my body. I was sitting right next to the plane door and the wind was blowing really hard. I did a tandem jump. I never learned the name of the man who was my partner.
“No, I wasn’t scared at all. The first part was the free fall. The wind was so hard in my face and we were flying in circles and they thought it was because I didn’t weigh much. I felt a little sick. And well, I was waiting for the exciting part.”
After her parachute opened, she was able to enjoy the “cool part.”
“I felt like I was flying. I loved that feeling and didn’t care about the landscape miles below me,” she said, laughing. “It was peaceful.”
On the ground, her daughter Denise Briggs, her brother Eric Howell and many family members waited for her safe landing. Wyatt is the oldest of her five siblings: Judy, Joe (who died last year), Gerald and Eric. She has five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Her other daughter is Natalie, who lives in Colorado. Wyatt’s husband was Joe Carl Wyatt, who died 25 years ago this month.
The grandchildren watched a video of their skydiving adventure.
Wyatt grew up on a farm in Benton, Kentucky. Five years ago, she moved to Mt. Juliet to be near Denise and ended up in Rutland Place. Denise’s husband, the late Bill Briggs, was a well-known muralist in Nashville.
Denise, who lives just a few miles from her mother, said Wyatt had been talking about skydiving for years.
“She didn’t know at the last moment whether she should spend the money on this dream and I said, ‘Do it.'”
“She’s laid back and a real joker!” Denise said of her mother. “I can hardly keep up!”
Pam Barton, Rutland Place’s marketing director, said she loves Wyatt.
“It has been so wonderful to get to know her and be a part of her life over the last six years because she is an incredible woman with many talents and interests,” Barton said.
Wyatt said she loved sewing and made all the trousseau for her youngest daughter’s wedding dress herself. She worked in the fabric department of Walmart in her hometown for 24 years.
She is writing a book about her life, but when she looks back for wise advice, she says it’s actually quite simple.
“I think my longevity is growing up on a farm and eating organic food,” she said. “And hard work and a good work ethic.”
And as for her 100th birthday bucket list? She said the thrill of skydiving wasn’t quite enough for her, so maybe another activity?
“Well, honestly, I don’t want to live to be 100,” she said. “But maybe a zipline experience?”
