Dorothy Hoffner, a 104-year-old Chicagoan who was considering applying to Guinness World Records to be recognized as the oldest person ever to skydive, has passed away.
104 Year Old Skydiver Cause Of Death
According to Joe Conant, Hoffner’s close friend, Hoffner was discovered dead by personnel at the Brookdale Lake View senior living community on Monday morning. Conant stated that Hoffner had passed away peacefully while sleeping on Sunday evening.
Several years ago, while Conant was working as a caretaker for another resident at the senior living complex, he met Hoffner, whom he called Grandma at her request. He remarked on how incredibly active she was and how alert her mind stayed.
Dorothy Hoffner Wouldn’t Shatter The Record
“She was indefatigable. She just kept going,” he said 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.”
Hoffner may go down in history as the oldest person to skydive after doing a tandem jump on October 1. At Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, Illinois, 85 miles (140 kilometers) southwest of Chicago, she made a parachute leap from 13,500 feet (4,100 meters). Hoffner told the applauding crowd upon landing, “Age is just a number.” She had previously jumped out of a perfect airplane when she was a vigorous 100-year-old.
Conant said he was working through formalities to have Hoffner recognized posthumously as the oldest skydiver in the world by Guinness World Records. Swedish centenarian Linnéa Ingegärd Larsson, 103, set the previous mark in May 2022.
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Conant claimed that Hoffner’s record-breaking skydive wasn’t done for the sake of competition. She loved her initial jump so much, he added, that she was eager to do it again.
“She 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.
On Tuesday, Skydive Chicago and the USPA released a joint statement praising Hoffner. We are heartbroken to hear about Dorothy’s demise and humbled to have played a role in facilitating her historic skydiving.
“Skydiving is an activity that many of us safely tuck away in our bucket lists. But Dorothy reminds us that it’s never too late to take the thrill of a lifetime. We are forever grateful that skydiving was a part of her exciting, well-lived life,” they said.
Conant stated that Hoffner worked for Illinois Bell, which became AT&T, for over 40 years until retiring 43 years ago. The lifelong Chicagoan never tied the knot, and according to Conant, she has no living relatives. There will be a memorial service for Hoffner in early November.
“She was a dear friend who was an inspiration,” Conant said.
