On any given day you might see 85 year old Temecula resident Darrell Cole motoring around old town and even as far as Murrieta on his scooter. Darrell had polio early in life and in 1964 was again injured in an accident involving a drunk driver. Now his scooter is his lifeline with the outside world. And you can be sure when you see him that he will have his little dog and trusty sidekick Deletta Mae there riding in the basket in front of him. Darrell will be the first to tell you that Deletta Mae is family. He even shared with a smile that if you invite him anyplace and tell him to leave “the dog” at home, neither one of them is going to show up. And when he talks with you, there is a definite twinkle in his eye that coincides with his sly humor. Make no mistake; Darrell is one very sharp 85 year old.
Darrell first moved to the Temecula area in 1984 and then to the Old Town in 1989 where he still lives today. Other than Deletta Mae, he lives alone. After that accident back in 1964 Darrell was told he was paraplegic and would never walk again. But this is one man who will not be told what he can and can’t do when it comes to his own disability. Perhaps driven by need or by determination and more than likely by both, Darrell developed the ability to move around just enough using crutches to be able to transfer himself at home from his scooter to a chair or the rolling barstool he uses to get around in his kitchen.
