Dorothy Hoffner, a 104-year-old Chicago woman whose recent skydive could see her certified by Guinness World Records as the oldest person to ever jump from a plane, has died.
Hoffner’s close friend, Joe Conant, said that she was found dead on Monday morning by staff at the Brookdale Lake View senior living community, adding that she apparently died in her sleep on Sunday night.
Conant, who is a nurse, said he met Hoffner — whom he called grandma at her request — several years ago while working as a caregiver for another resident at the senior living center.
Photo: AP via Daniel Wilsey
He said she had amazing energy and remained mentally sharp.
“She was indefatigable. She just kept going,” he said on Tuesday. “She was not someone who would take naps in the afternoon, or not show up for any function, dinner or anything else. She was always there, fully present. She kept going, always.”
On Oct. 1, Hoffner made a tandem skydive that could land her in the record books as the world’s oldest skydiver. She jumped out of a plane from 4,100m at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, Illinois.
“Age is just a number,” Hoffner told a cheering crowd moments after landing.
It was not her first time jumping from a plane — that happened when she was a spry 100 years old.
Conant said he was working through paperwork to ensure that Guinness World Records certifies Hoffner posthumously as the world’s oldest skydiver, but he expects that would take some time.
The current record was set in May last year by 103-year-old Linnea Ingegard Larsson of Sweden.
“She [Hoffner] had no intention of breaking the record, and she had no interest in any publicity or anything. She wasn’t doing it for any other reason than she wanted to go skydiving,” he said.
Skydive Chicago and the US Parachute Association celebrated Hoffner in a joint statement on Tuesday.
“We are deeply saddened by Dorothy’s passing and feel honored to have been a part of making her world-record skydive a reality,” they said.
Conant said that Hoffner worked for more than four decades as a telephone operator with Illinois Bell, which later became AT&T, and retired 43 years ago.
The lifelong Chicago resident never married, and Conant said she had no immediate family members.
A memorial service for Hoffner is to be held early next month.
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