104-year-old Chicago woman dies days after making a skydive that could put her in the record books

Dorothy Hoffner, the 104 year old woman from Chicago who made a skydive jump at Skydive Chicago, has died.

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 Skydive Chicago plane
from 13,500 feet (4,100 meters) at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa.

“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 of age.

Mrs. 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 said he was working through paperwork to ensure that Guinness
World Records certifies her posthumously as the world's oldest
skydiver. The current record
was set in May of 2022 by 103-year-old Linnéa Ingegärd Larsson of Sweden.

Conant
said Hoffner didn't skydive to break a record. He said she had so
thoroughly enjoyed her first jump that she just wanted 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.

Link to Her Speaking At Skydive Chicago