Current Conditions
61°F - L/FOG
(1351) (966) (748) (122) (35) (18) (11) (8) (3)
The pair hit the road again Sunday night with two other couples, going to dinner, taking a leisurely ride to the Pagoda in Reading and stopping for Italian ice on the way home.
A mile from her Gap house, at about 8:30 p.m., the founder of Auntie Anne's hit an oil slick and laid her motorcycle over on Mount Vernon Road in Salisbury Township.
Beiler, 61, suffered a concussion, broken collarbone and broken rib in the accident, which knocked her unconscious for a time.
She also was left with bumps and scrapes — and the sobering reminder that riding a motorcycle can be hazardous.
"You honestly just never know," she said Wednesday. "I'm an advocate for helmets, though, of course, I'm not the kind of person who says, 'You should be wearing one.' But I do want to encourage people to do that. If I didn't have my helmet on, I wouldn't be here."
Beiler is the second well-known county resident to suffer injuries in a motorcycle accident this summer. Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray was hurt July 1 when his motorcycle was hit by a truck in New Jersey, where he was headed for a holiday weekend with his family. He had surgery last week and recently returned to work part time.
It has been a tragic year for motorcycle accidents in the county as well. Fourteen people already have died in wrecks, including a five-fatality crash in late June on Route 72.
Beiler never had an accident in 31 years of riding a motorcycle before Sunday. But someone very close to her did.
Her youngest brother, Carl Smucker of Gordonville, was badly hurt in a motorcycle accident two years ago, breaking bones in his legs and having to work hard to walk again.
It was a difficult time for his seven siblings, who all ride motorcycles.
"When I saw him in the hospital bed, I couldn't come to peace with that," Beiler said. "I felt so troubled. For six weeks, I walked past my bike thinking, 'I don't know if I can do that.' "
Over time, she said she became comfortable with the notion of riding again.
She thinks that will happen to her now that she has had her own accident, too.
But it won't happen in time for a planned Sept. 12 "Women's Ride Out," which will feature ice cream and prizes.
The ride had been scheduled through the Beilers' office at the Family Center of Gap, where the couple now devote much of their time in efforts such as their Family Resource and Counseling Center. Auntie Anne's was sold to a private owner in April 2005.
With the broken collarbone, Beiler has to have her right arm in a sling for six weeks, but she said she will be at the ride, possibly riding along in a convertible.
And she plans to get back on a motorcycle, maybe next year.
"My husband and I just thoroughly enjoy it," she said. "It was just an accident, a fluke thing."
For now, Beiler is taking it easy, saying her husband, Jonas, is taking care of her, though she likes to be independent.
Every day, she said, she feels a little better.
She does not remember anything about the accident other than getting on a helicopter to be airlifted to Lancaster General Hospital.
"I was feeling like I was upside down, and I told the nurse that, and she said, 'You're safe here; it's fine,' " she recalled.
In the helicopter, medics cut off her jeans to check her legs for injuries, and she remembered recalling the old admonition to wear clean underwear in case you are ever in an accident.
"I said, 'This is what my mom meant,' " she said.
She said she can't believe she had a motorcycle accident after decades of collision-free riding. And she also can't believe the support and good wishes she has received since then.
"It's such a loving feeling I get when people call or send a card," she said. "I'm just overwhelmed with the love of people."
