SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Joshua Wingert loved Batman. Before dying of leukemia, his final wish was to ride in the Adam West era 1966 Batmobile.
Bob Goldsand, who just so happens to own one of only eight replica Batmobiles in the world. Goldsand took Joshua on a ride.
Josh was 17, and after his ride he had one more request: Again.
On April 5, an urn containing his ashes was seated in his younger brother Jacob's lap. The Batmobile was escorted by Sacramento Police from the Wingerts' home past David Lubin Elementary School. Students cheered and held signs of the Bat-Signal as the car passed by. They drove in front of Kit Carson International Academy, where Joshua went to high school, before ending the procession at East Lawn Cemetery.
Joshua's parents knew it was the perfect way to give their son his final ride.
Goldsand recalled Josh's first ride. "Josh is a great kid. We went out for a 40-minute ride," Goldsand said. "He was talking about his future and how he wanted to be famous. He ran over to his parents and said, 'This is the best day of my life.'"
"He liked other guys but that was it, Batman was the man," Joshua's mother, Jessica, told KTXL. "In the hospice, we went through the whole series," said Jessica.
"He liked the 60s, you know, the cheesy television show," said his father, Jeff.
At 6-months-old Joshua was diagnosed with leukemia. At a year old he went through a bone marrow transplant. Joshua continued to grow stronger, using the Caped Crusader as inspiration. But before his freshman year of high school, his family was given some life-altering news.
"On one particular MRI that they had done they found something, and they said they found a tumor on his brain stem," Jeff Wingert said.
In February, Joshua passed away.
"I was asking Jess before we started,' Jeff Wingert said. "I said, 'Do you think he would he have liked this today?' And absolutely, absolutely."
