CHICAGO, Ill. (WTVO) — Dorothy Hoffner, of Chicago, has died just days after setting a world record as the world’s oldest skydiver, at 104.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Hoffner died peacefully in her sleep on Monday.
She set the record on October 1st after a tandem jump at Skydive Chicago.
The Guinness Book of World Records is still confirming the details, WMAQ reported.
Hoffner first skydived when she was 100. On Sunday, she left her walker behind just short of the plane — a Skyvan — and was helped up the steps to join the others waiting inside to skydive.
“Let’s go, let’s go, Geronimo!” Hoffner said after she was finally seated.
When she first skydived, she said she had to be pushed out of the aircraft. But on Sunday, tethered to a U.S. Parachute Association-certified instructor, Hoffner insisted on leading the jump from 13,500 feet
The dive lasted seven minutes, including her parachute’s slow descent to the ground. Coming in to land, the wind pushed Hoffner’s white hair back, she clung to the harness over her narrow shoulders, picked up her legs and plopped softly onto the grassy landing area.
Friends rushed in to share congratulations, while someone brought over Hoffner’s red walker. She rose quickly and she was asked how it felt to be back on the ground.
“Wonderful,” Hoffner said. “But it was wonderful up there. The whole thing was delightful, wonderful, couldn’t have been better.”
“We are deeply saddened by Dorothy’s passing, and feel honored to have been part of making her world record skydive a reality,” a spokesperson for Skydive Chicago said. “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.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.