It was a bucket list dream come true. This past Friday, May 8, was a beautiful day for skydiving at Mesquite Airport. Suzy Bowers, 87, was surrounded by friends and staff from Mesa Valley Estates, where she is in hospice care.

This was her first time skydiving, but she had dreamed of doing this for 60 years. With a picture of her late husband in her pocket, Bowers was ready to go. Her instructor, Tyler Martin of Skydive Mesquite, helped her put on her equipment. Since the jump would be tandem with him, training was brief. “Just put out your arms and legs and don’t pull on the parachute,” he said. “You’ll be strapped to me tighter than to your husband,” he joked.

Hospice nurse Laurie Dickens joined her on the jump with another instructor, Brad Jessy, owner of Skydive Mesquite. Soon, they filed out and hopped into the plane. It took about five minutes for the plane to reach enough altitude for the jump. Then the free fall lasted about one minute, and once the parachutes opened, it took five minutes to drift to the ground.

The setup at Skydive Mesquite is in a large hangar with a big-screen television where Bowers’ supporters watched her and Martin jump out of the plane. The expert instructors landed them gently in the drop zone without any problems. Those in attendance went up to see how Bowers and Dickens did. Dickens said, “When it was time to jump out of the plane, I said, what the heck am I doing? But it was very exciting.”

Bowers said, “It was wonderful. I’m so glad I did it. Now I want to get a tattoo!”