“Some of our residents are 20 or 30 years younger than her and she had more energy than they did,” David Chamberlain of Brookdale Senior Living says. “She was just incredible.”
One woman set a world record by becoming the oldest person to skydive. She died a week later, and her spirit of adventure is being celebrated.
Dorothy Hoffner made history earlier this month by jumping out of an airplane at the age of 104. She took her first tandem skydiving jump at 100 years old.
Hoffner died over the weekend in her sleep, days after her thrilling leap.
The 104-year-old lived through the Great Depression and the COVID-19 pandemic. Those closest to her say she never missed a beat.
“Some of our residents are 20 or 30 years younger than her and she had more energy than they did,” David Chamberlain of Brookdale Senior Living says. “She was just incredible.”
Skydive Chicago, where Hoffner took her final jump, released a joint statement with the U.S. Parachute Association praising her love for adventure.
“We are deeply saddened by Dorothy’s passing and feeling honored to have been part of her world-record skydive a reality,” the statement said.
Hoffner’s friends say they do not believe the skydive led to her death.
“I think it was just Dorothy’s time,” Hoffner’s friend Joe Conant says.
Admirers around the world and at her senior living facility in Chicago are mourning her loss, but they say her legacy will go on forever.
“Age is just a number,” Conant says. “Continue to do whatever you want to do for as long as you can in your life.”
Hoffner’s friends are working to ensure Guinness World Records certifies her as the world’s oldest skydiver. The current record was set last year by a 103-year-old Swedish woman.
