Woodstock Man, 91, Fulfills Unusual Bucket List Dream 
 
 Stephanie Price | 3:00 p.m. June 2, 2015 
 
 Over the years, Walter Thomas collected antique cars and enjoyed repairing them. The 91-year-old Woodstock father, grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great grandfather owned four separate gasoline stations in Woodstock over the past 50 years and always admired race car driving from afar. 
 
 In addition to his passion for automobiles, Thomas has always had one nagging thought on his mind over the years — one nonconventional wish on his bucket list. On Sunday, Thomas’ three grandchildren helped him check that item off his list. 
 
 “[My grandfather] told me a long time ago that he always wanted to back a car through the garage door,” said granddaughter Becky Goers, of Woodstock. “He always wondered if the garage door would pop off, or if the frame would come down with it.” 
 
 Goers, a physical education and driver’s education teacher at Woodstock High School, recently shared her grandfather’s dream with her brother, Andrew Thomas, a deputy for the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office who happens to work as an accident reconstruction officer. Andrew Thomas wanted make his grandfather’s dream a reality. 
 
 “It’s been on his bucket list, and it’s been on the back of my mind,” Andrew Thomas said. 
 
 Andrew Thomas located an old car headed to the junk yard - a 1998 Isuzu Rodeo donated by Midas Touch of Woodstock owner Jeff McGrath - to use for the stunt. And in a fortunate twist of fate, Andrew’s brother Brian Thomas found the perfect garage for the setting. Brian Thomas’ friends, Nick and Jamielynn Wedoff, were planning to demolish their one-car garage, built in 1921, soon to make way for a new two-story addition at their Hill Street home. The couple quickly jumped into the plot. 
 
 “Grandpa and Grandma Thomas have always treated us like family and this is something we thought would be fun,” Jamielynn Wedoff said. 
 
 And so with a small crowd of family and friends watching — including his wife of 70 years, Dorothy - Walter Thomas donned a race car driver’s helmet for safety and climbed into the driver’s seat of the Isuzu this past Sunday afternoon. Andrew Thomas, also wearing a helmet for protection, climbed into the passenger seat. 
 
 On the “go” signal, Walter Thomas hit the gas pedal, and the sound of screeching tires preceded the moment when the maroon Isuzu burst through the wooden garage doors. 
 
 Although the noise and subsequent crash caused one of Thomas’ great-granddaughters to burst into tears, the rest of the family applauded and cheered. Shattered chunks of wood littered the driveway. For the record, only the garage door came down. The door frame remained unscathed. 
 
 “That was crazy,” a smiling Walter Thomas said, as the car came to a stop. “We really took the door down.” 
 
 Walter Thomas credited his grandchildren for making his dream — however small — come true. 
 
 “I appreciate the kids getting together. It’s kind of nice of them to think of old grandpa,” Walter Thomas said. 
 
 "Like" The Woodstock Independent Facebook Page ||||| WOODSTOCK, Ill. (AP) — A suburban Chicago man who says he always wanted to know what it is like to smash through a garage door now knows the feeling. 
 
 Walter Thomas poses at his home in Woodstock, Ill., Wednesday, June 3, 2015. Thomas can check one thing off his bucket list after backing a car through a garage door on purpose with his family's help.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Ninety-one-year-old Walter Thomas of Woodstock was able to slam an SUV through a garage door with his family's help. 
 
 The garage was slated to be torn down, so Thomas' action was of no consequence. The SUV was donated. It was then up to Thomas to back it through the garage door and check that activity off his bucket list. 
 
 Thomas described what he did this way: "I hit the gas, squealed the tires and bang — we went through the door." 
 
 Thomas says he doesn't know what he could do to top that. 
 
 ___ 
 
 This story and extended headline correct that Walter Thomas' age is 91, instead of 90.
– Thanks to a dedicated grandson, Illinois man Walter Thomas finally has an answer to a question that he has pondered for many of his 91 years. He "told me a long time ago that he always wanted to back a car through the garage door," granddaughter Becky Goers tells the Woodstock Independent. "He always wondered if the garage door would pop off, or if the frame would come down with it." After hearing about the bizarre "bucket list" item, Goers' brother—an accident reconstruction officer for the county sheriff's office—set to work making it happen, obtaining an old car and finding friends who were about to demolish a garage, the Independent reports. Last Sunday, as family members that included great-grandchildren and his wife of 70 years looked on, Thomas put on a crash helmet and backed right through the wooden garage door with his grandson sitting in the passenger seat, reports the Independent, which notes that while the door was smashed, the frame stayed up. "I hit the gas, squealed the tires, and bang—we went through the door," a satisfied Thomas tells the AP. It's not clear whether there are any items left on his bucket list, but he says taking down that garage door will be hard to top. (A New York City man took his dying dog on an epic "bucket list" road trip.)