The Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance helped make a Colorado grandmother's dream come true this week. She got the chance to meet penguins up close.

Doris Garcia, a 96 year old from Boulder, got a behind-the-scenes look at a group of African penguins at the zoo. And she even got to play with them.

She was supposed to see the animals 70 years ago. She was working for the American government in Argentina when she was invited on a research trip to Antarctica.

Garcia was already on the boat, complete with a snow suit, when everything changed.

"It was very simple. I had the costume, totally the whole deal, I was all ready to go. (They said) 'you're a woman.' That was the end of that," Garcia said.

She was forced to turn around just because she was female.

"I was really looking forward to being out there, but c'est la vie," Garcia said.

"I would have really loved to go south of South America."  

The story is one Garcia's daughter Britt has heard many times.

"She's told us ever since we were little about this trip to Argentina and how she had always wanted to see the penguins," Britt Garcia said.

Compassionate Hospice worked with the zoo to make a meeting with the animals finally happen.

"Hello, you're so pretty," Doris said to the penguins on Wednesday.

For Doris and Britt, it was a day they'll never forget.

"It's a big, big day," Britt said.

In an email to CBS Colorado before Wednesday's event, Compassionate Hospice shared the following statement about Garcia:

"At Compassionate Hospice, our goal is to bring peace and comfort to patients at the end of their life, and one of the ways we do that is through our own make a wish program for patients. We have the incredible opportunity to help complete a lifelong dream for one of our patients; a 96-year-old woman whose life story is nothing short of inspiring. As a young woman in the 1940s she attended George Washington University and though faced with constant doubt and verbal discouragement, she was one of the first women to graduate with a degree in mathematics. After graduating, she went on to work with the US government. She was stationed in Ushuaia, Argentina in the 1950's doing research work and was slated to do research work with an all-male crew in Antarctica. She was packed and ready, complete with a custom snow suit! But just one day before departure, she was told she couldn't go; not because she lacked the skills, but because she was a woman. I truly cannot overstate the level of devastation this has left in her life. Every person she has met on our hospice team has been told the story of her grand adventures as a single young woman that traveled to a remote village in Argentina, where she operated one of the first automatic calculators called the Monroe. Each time she recounts her time there, she laments the anguish she carries that she was not able to "step foot on Antarctica with those penguins". ... In a dream world, we'd be able to take this patient to Antarctica, but unfortunately that isn't possible, especially with her health condition. However, I believe, with the help of the Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance, we can bring a bit of peace and perhaps help fulfill a small part of her dream."