World’s Luckiest Man By Bob Althoff
LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT LILLY…
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n honor of Women’s History Month this issue celebrates women’s many contributions to motorcycling. Allow me to share the story of one of the true pioneers of our sport: Lillian Farrow. In early 1912, then 20-year-old Lilly and her 22-year-old husband, Dale Farrow, opened their dealership, becoming what is now America’s Oldest Harley dealership. Imagine their excitement. Lilly and Dale grew their business and their family, but Dale grew ill and passed young. He died at the shop. They laid his body on a lift and waited on the coroner. It was 1927; Lilly was now 35 with a dealership and three young kids. The dealership had survived World War I and the subsequent Spanish Flu epidemic, so Lilly wasn’t about to quit now. Instead she clicked it up a gear and twisted the throttle to the stops! She was quite a rider, race promoter, charitable fund raiser and was described as “having an iron fist inside a white velvet glove”. Life for Lilly was that of a single mom who ran a dealership but who also left her mark on many Hall-of-Fame careers and on her entire industry. There were not many women running dealerships, let alone running anything in those days — days that were to include the Great Depression, WWII, countless recessions and more personal tragedy. Her son, Bobby, died in his 18th year… on a motorcycle. He was delivering film from a local college football game to his hometown newspaper when a drunk ran a stop sign.
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And yet Lillie soldiered on. She helped form the prestigious women’s motorcycling club, the Motor Maids, hosting the first, then the 25th (and almost the 50th) annual ride-in conventions. In recent years, Lilly’s legend continues to inspire new generations including “The Iron Lillies” — an Orlando-based group with the mission statement: “Empowered Women Empower Women”! Books could (and should) be written about her. Movies, too. The stories we tell about the amazing women, like Lilly, are what will attract others to the richness of life on two wheels. As a dealer during the past several decades, I sat at her desk. A desk she bought from the Globe Desk Company in Boston in 1916. I was, and am, proud to have been able to be a steward of the dealership she nurtured for most six decades. And I continue to find inspiration in her legacy. The life of a dealer holds in store tremendous joy, amazing adventure and valued friendships. It also holds countless challenges, disappointments and, yes, even tragedy. In the end, what Lillie taught us all is to love motorcycles and the people who ride them; to serve one’s community and industry; and, above all — to persevere! Dealernews would not exist today without Lilly Farrow (long story for another time, but a fact). I’m glad the magazine, like Lilly, has persevered. And that we can tell the stories like Lilly’s for the decades ahead. Lilly deserves a place in the Hall of Fame. As do women you will read about in this issue and many you will not. The work women do, the contributions they make and the bad-ass beauty they have brought to our lifestyle… well, thank you, Lilly! Thank you, ladies! Ride on. Bob
