LEWISTON – Ruth Slovenski never saw it coming. The 83-year-old woman thought all the reporters were at her house to talk to her about her stolen bicycle, which she feared was gone for good.

Then the cops showed up.

“Are you looking for this?” asked Deputy Chief Michael Bussiere of the Lewiston Police Department.

He and two other officers wheeled Slovenski’s childhood bike up Pettingill Street. Her eyes and mouth went wide.

“Wonderful!” she said, when it sank in. “My bike! Where did you find it?”

It was her bike, all right, an early 1940s Huffy she has been riding since she was a child. It was stolen last weekend, and she feared it was gone for good.

“It’s mine,” Slovenski said after sitting on her bike and looking it over. “I know that for sure.”

Police on Friday recovered the 83-year-old’s vintage bicycle less than a week after it was stolen near Bates College.

Police Lt. Mark Cornelio said a man who had been riding the bicycle called police early Friday after reading about the theft in the Sun Journal. He said a stranger had given him the bike earlier in the week in the area of the Dairy Joy, down the street from Maison Marcotte where the bike was stolen.

“This kid apparently panicked,” Cornelio said. “This bike is something that will stick out like a sore thumb.”

Officer Jane Huffman met the man who had the bike, took down his information, and took the Huffy back to the station.

For nearly a week, police had been searching for the bicycle and the officers took it personally – they never knew a woman who had ridden the same bike for so long.

“It was like someone stole from one of our grandmothers,” Cornelio said.

The officers were not the only ones.

Early Friday, several former Bates College track athletes contacted the Sun Journal or Lewiston police to offer reward money. Slovenski’s late husband was popular Bates track coach Walter Slovenski.

Cornelio said he had heard from others from around the state who also wanted to help out. Some wanted to offer a reward. Others wanted to replace Slovenski’s bicycle.

“Why would I get another bike?” the owner asked with earnest bafflement after she was reunited with the Huffy. “I like this one.”

For a time, it was a strange sight on Pettingill Street. Cornelio and Bussiere were joined by Cpl. Matt Cashman, who investigated the case. Slovenski was surrounded by the officers and a group of reporters and photographers covering the happy story.

“You don’t usually see this much excitement on Pettingill Street,” she said.

Then she began to ride. Up and down the street, into her driveway and back again. She looked like a woman as comfortable with her bicycle as she would be with an easy chair. And why not? She first started riding it while World War II was raging and Franklin Roosevelt was president.

“I feel so great,” she said. “I’ve been thinking all week about how nice it would be if my bike turned up. And look at this. It did!”

Cashman is continuing to investigate the theft. No arrests were made, but the property was returned, minus two rubber handle grips. Slovenski was happy and so were the cops.

“This,” Cornelio said, “is a great way for the story to end.”

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