IN THE CLOUDS

104-Year-Old Dorothy Hoffner Dies a Week After Breaking Skydiving Record

Her plunge last week saw her become the oldest-ever person to skydive.

Dorothy Hoffner, the 104-year-old who defied the odds to become the oldest-ever person to skydive just last week, died in her sleep Monday, a friend confirmed to the Chicago Tribune. Her jump last week broke a year-old record and saw the centenarian fall from 13,500 feet. Hoffner withheld her record-setting adventure from her family until the following day when she surprised them with that day’s issue of the Chicago Tribune, which featured a photo of her soaring back to the ground on its front page. “It was wonderful up there,” she told reporters after her flight. “The whole thing was delightful, wonderful, couldn’t have been better.”