Career
Alvin Straight"s 80-year-old brother, Henry, had recently suffered a stroke. At the age of 73, Alvin Straight could not see well enough for a driver license, so he decided his only option was to travel on his riding lawn mower. About four days and 21 miles into the trip, the law mower broke down in West Bend, Iowa.
Straight spent $250 on replacement points, a condenser, plugs, a generator, and a starter.
After traveling another 90 miles, Straight ran out of money while in Charles City, Iowa. He camped out there until his next Social Security checks arrived in August.
He was interviewed by local newspapers. On August 15, Straight"s lawn mower broke down again when he was two miles from his brother"s house near Blue River, Wisconsin.
A farmer stopped and helped him push it the rest of the way.
At a top speed of 5 miles per hour, the trip took six weeks in all. Paul Condit, president and general manager of Texas Equipment Company, Incorporated., in Seminole, Texas, heard about the trip and gave Alvin Straight a 17-horsepower John Deere riding mower worth $5,000. Alvin Straight"s nephew, Dayne Straight, drove him back to Iowa on his pickup truck.
Henry Straight recovered from his stroke and moved back to Iowa to be closer to his family.
Alvin Straight did not like the attention from the lawn mower trip. He turned down offers to appear on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Show with David Letterman.
Alvin Straight was born in Scobey, Montana. In 1973, Alvin, Frances, and their family moved to Lake View, Iowa, where he worked as a general laborer.
Straight was a veteran of World World War II, serving as private first class in the United States Army, and the Korean War.
In April 1995, Alvin Straight attempted to drive a riding lawn mower to Sun Valley, Idaho, but he had to turn back because of cold weather. On November 9, 1996, Straight died of a heart ailment at a local hospital in Laurens. A lawn mower similar to the one he had used on his journey accompanied his funeral procession to the Ida Grove Cemetery.
Playwright and performer Dan Hurlin and composer and sound designer Dan Moses Schreier adapted Straight"s trip into a theatrical production that was billed as an opera.
"The Shoulder" was performed at CSPS Hall in Des Moines, Iowa, in October 1997. lieutenant was also performed in January 1998 at New York"s Dance Theater Workshop and Minneapolis" Walker Art Center.
Straight"s story was adapted into the film The Straight Story, directed by David Lynch, which starred Richard Farnsworth (in an Oscar nominated role) as Alvin Straight. Straight received $10,000 plus ten percent of the movie"s profits.