It’s been a long journey home for Ursula Hopper, who was critically injured when a pickup with a cattle guard struck her while she was riding her bike on March 1.
Hopper, who is 89 1/2 and spent the past three months recuperating at Violet Tschetter Memorial Home, was moved into her new home at the Courtyard Apartments on Tuesday.
“Everyone saw her on Dakota constantly, this is the old lady that rode the bicycle,” said her daughter, Peggy Hiles of Huron. “That’s what she was known as, even though she doesn’t look old.”
Hopper said that fateful day in March was like any other — although she was preparing for a visit from her daughter in Cheyenne, Wyo.
She washed and dried her clothes, took out the trash, then climbed on her bike, a two-wheeler, and began pedaling toward Dakota Avenue.
“I was going down on 21st Street, that’s where I lived, across from the fire department,” Hopper said. “I was going across the street (Dakota) — the light was green, then a pickup came and hit me.”
A Durango, which was in front of the pickup, swerved and was able to miss Hopper, but the pickup behind it didn’t.
Around the same time, Hiles said she and her husband were driving down Dakota Avenue when she saw the flashing lights at the intersection on 21st Street.
“Two blocks away, and I knew it was her,” Hiles said. “I started freaking out. I said, ‘I know it’s my mom. It’s a beautiful day out, I know that’s my mom.’
“We got closer and I saw her lying on the ground,” she said. “They wouldn’t let me go over to her, there was a lot of blood.”
Hiles said one of the officers came and said her mother was “talking and she’s with us, but she’s all banged up.”
“She took the brunt,” Hiles said. “The bike was bent a little. But she flew up in the air, landed on the hood of the pickup and then down; that’s what the witnesses said.”

Hopper was taken to Huron Regional Medical Center, where a trauma team was assembled to stabilize her before she was flown to Sioux Falls.
Hopper’s injuries were many — broken pelvis in front and back, leg broken in six places, broken ankle, broken rib, bruising on her arms, and head injuries. She was not wearing a helmet.
“Doctors couldn’t believe it when they found out her age,” said Hopper’s granddaughter, Laura Jones of Huron. “He said he didn’t think he would be doing this kind of operation on an 89 year old.
“Luckily, she was in perfect health,” Jones added. “She probably wouldn’t have survived had she not been.”
Hopper believes she is in such good health because of the health supplements she has been taking for more than 50 years now.
“I take Shaklee supplements, I think that’s helped a lot,” Hopper said.
“I always think positive, and believe hard work doesn’t hurt anybody,” she added. “I would have never made it without my family and therapy (at VTMH).”
Hopper said bike riding is an activity she has enjoyed since receiving her first new bike as a child. When she became an adult, her bike became her main means of transportation.
“She never had a car when I was growing up; a bike was her transportation,” Hiles remembers. “I think I was 16 when she got her first car.”
Her mother quit driving in the late 1990s, and returned to traveling on two wheels instead of four.
“That was her life, bicycling and bingo,” said Hiles.
Hiles said she bought her mother a three-wheel bike to use at one time, but Hopper didn’t like it and refused to ride it. Even now, the three-wheeler remains stored on their property.
“I didn’t like it,” Hopper said. “I don’t have the slightest idea if I will ride again or not.”
“She has a little anxiety (about biking) after being hurt,” Hiles said of her mother. “I don’t think that’s going to take place anymore. She went through an awful lot of trauma and pain.
“And this is a lady who never took aspirin her whole life,” Hiles added. “She never complained of pain. She’s tough, a good old German lady.”
Hiles said one of her friends found a bicycle pin online, and ordered it for her mother to wear in honor of her passion for biking.
“It’s just a new chapter in her life,” Hiles said. “Brand new apartment. Brand new couch. Starting over.
“It’s been a long three months, but it’s been worth it,” she added. “Laura has done almost everything.”
Hopper has three daughters and two sons, 12 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren and one great-great-granddaughter born this spring.
Last month the doctor reported that Hopper’s pelvis was 100 percent healed, and her leg was 80 percent healed. Hopper is able to move around well with the use of her walker.
“I am really blessed,” Hopper said. “It is healing.”

CRYSTAL PUGSLEY/PLAINSMAN
Ursula Hopper, seated left, was moved into the Courtyard Apartments on Tuesday, three months after being hit by a pickup while riding her bike in Huron. She is shown with her daughter, Peggy Hiles, right, and granddaughter, Laura Jones, in back. Below is a bicycle pin Ursula wears in honor of her lifelong passion for riding a bike.