A 1952-vintage Schwinn bicycle that carried Donald Deer and his family all around Evansville for a half-century was stolen from outside a McDonald's recently.
While that Schwinn might be a museum piece for some, it was just a way to get around town for Deer, 64.
The Evansville (Ind.) Courier tells how Deer won the bicycle as a fourth-grader when he wrote the winning school slogan on fire safety (“Fire prevention week is OK, but let's make it a practice every day”).
Passenger seat
As a child, he used it for running trips all around town. After his father installed a passenger seat on the top tube, Deer gave rides to his little sister.
Later on, Deer gave rides to his own two children, and more recently his four grandchildren.
Imagine all the memories that are wrapped up in that bicycle.
Deer still used the bike for errands; his wife says he'd rather take the bike to the store than drive. He had pedaled it over to the McDonald's and left it outside, unlocked, when it was stolen. He doubts the thieves will be caught.
“To them, it was a dollars and cents thing. But it's not just a bicycle.”
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