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.
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 she was found dead Monday morning by staff at the Brookdale Lake View senior living community. Conant said Hoffner 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 he was working as a caregiver for another resident at the senior living center. He said she had amazing energy and remained mentally sharp.
“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.”
Something in her was like "gotta make it to 100..."
Then she did and must've been thinking "well is that it? I am awfully tired all the time. Guess I am getting weaker. Oh!! I never skydived!! Okay gotta skydive, then we're good to go 😊"
“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.”
Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Stevie Ray Vaughan, now Dorothy. We'll never get to see what else they might have done had they not been snatched from us early by that cruel bitch fate.
Plus the benefit that her actual death was in her sleep.
My grandma wasn't skydiving, but she also died in her sleep, which was great. Was well the days before, then went to bed and never woke up. Much prefered to how grandpa slowly died of cancer while also having Alzheimers. That wasn't fun for anyone. Never waking up is certainly one of the best deaths one can have.
I didn't have to go through it directly. I was a child and my grandma didn't let me see my grandfather in his past months. It apparently was really bad and she wanted me to keep the memory of how he was when he was well. Heck, while the older family members got to visit, she basically took over the care on her own. She shouldered this burden of him losing himself so nobody else had to and continued on another decade afterwards. She was quite the strong woman.
It's not as common now as it used to be, and even back then it wasn't really common, but it's kind of like the word "inauspicious." I had never heard anyone use the word before, but then I went to India and every English speaking Indian seemed to use the word regularly. It was weird.
But yeah, indefatigable is a word I've heard before, both spoken in older movies and in older books.
I'd put money on the nurse being a roleplayer / watcher. It's a character attribute you can have in DnD 5e and I believe pops up in a few other tabletop games, so like, golems/robots "don't get tired."
Also totally possible he just likes older media of course.
LOVELESS
Yes, Mr. West, I'm sure a well-
endowed blackamoor like yourself
must find it absolutely
impossible... that a freak like me
could fully enjoy the pleasure of
a woman. But having witnessed my
use of mechinology so far...
wouldn't you think I could provide
myself with something for the
lower half of my body that was
hard-pumping and indefatigably
steely?
Kinda sad, but at the same time, I wish for this myself when being old. Dieing after having my most ambitious dreams being fulfilled, not looking back about missed opportunities or regrets.
She was the oldest person to skydive, there's proof that she was the oldest person to skydive. What's keeping them from giving her the record? Does it matter that she died? The record was already set.
Would there be a concern that the elderly might be pushed into potentially hazardous (due to their age/health) activities in attempts to make records? Guinness already refuses records that are dangerous. I could easily see the YouTube generation trying to talk grandma into some record attempts that wind up with her stroking out or breaking a hip. If I were Guinness I’d have some concerns about how to present stuff like this.
I, for one, would want to take a second look at a birth certificate from 1919. It might not be terribly meaningful in the grand scheme of things but Guinness takes their verification seriously and wants to be able to answer questions like "exactly how many days old was she when she jumped?" and "how did you prove that?"