奇速英语

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 Hoffner was found dead Monday morning by staff at the Brookdale Lake View senior living community.

On 1 October, 2023, Hoffner made a skydive that could land her in the record books as the world’s oldest skydiver. She jumped out of a plane from 13,500ft (4,100 metres) at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, Illinois, 85 miles (140km) south-west of Chicago. “Age is just a number,” Hoffner told a cheering crowd moments after landing. “The whole thing was exhilarating, couldn’t have been better.”

Conant said Hoffner had amazing energy and remained mentally sharp. “She never seemed to tire. She just kept going,” he said Tuesday. “She was not someone who would take naps (小睡) in the afternoon, or not show up for any function, dinner or anything else. She was always there, fully present. She kept going, always.” Conant said 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.

Conant was working through paperwork to ensure that Guinness World Records certifies Hoffner posthumously (死后地) as the world’s oldest skydiver, but he expects that will take some time. The current record was set in May 2022 by 103-year-old Linnéa Ingegärd Larsson of Sweden. Conant said Hoffner didn’t skydive to break a 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.

“She was a dear friend who was an inspiration,” Conant said.