Good news, we got the bike running. I was under the front fender trying to put a short jumper wire across the ignition as oldyeller mentioned, when suddenly my dad gave a whoop and jumped a foot off the ground. The brake light flicked on. Long story short is the ignition key assembly was hooped.
good call oldyeller. We bypassed the ignition with another push button switch and the bike runs like a dream now. The funny thing is after all the fiddling with the new switch, suddenly the original keyed switch started working, albeit it still was not perfect as it would flikker when you wiggled it. Must have wore some of the corrosion off the contacts. We went over the bike then and did a quick little pre-ride check. Tightened a couple of bolts and increased the idle a bit. This is a nice little fourwheeler and I think it should do him good. As I left, my dad was puttering across the yard with a big smile on his face.

Thanks a million for all of your replies and help.

-Onzle