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.”
It sounds like Dorothy lived life on her terms, right to the end.
Respect.
Cut down in her prime
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.
Good, going out on a high note is great.
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.
That’s how my grandmother went out. Definitely preferable to many other ways. :( Sorry you had to go through that. Dementia of any kind is horrible.
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.
No one’s going to say anything about “indefatigable”? Am I the only illiterate here that’s never heard of this word?
It’s a really uncommon word. But hey, you get to be one of today’s lucky 10,000.
Okay so it’s actually pronounceable. According to google it goes like: in-dee-fa-tu-ga-bull
Well… I guess I’ve never heard it spoken before lol
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I only know it thanks to the Camelot song from Holy Grail.
In war we’re tough and able
Quite indefatigable
Between our quests we sequin vests and impersonate Clark Gable
I have to push the pram a lot.
It means she couldn’t be fatigued.
I figured that out without looking it up.
Why in- and de- tho?
To me that sounds like she couldn’t have her fatigue reversed.
But, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were correct, language gonna language.
It’s an old pigeon French use, if you’re interested in that sort of thing it’s etymology.
Namely there are several warships named indefatigable.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/indefatigable
1580s (implied in indefatigably), from French indefatigable (15c.), from Latin indefatigabilis “that cannot be wearied,” from in- “not” (see in- (1)) + defatigare “to tire out,” from de- “utterly, down, away” (see de-) + fatigare “to weary” (see fatigue (n.)).
Dropping those etymonline links…. You’re making me hot
https://www.etymonline.com/word/hot
Old English hat “hot, flaming, opposite of cold,” used of the sun or air, of fire, of objects made hot; also “fervent, fierce, intense, excited,” from Proto-Germanic *haita- (source also of Old Saxon and Old Frisian het, Old Norse heitr, Middle Dutch and Dutch heet, German heiß “hot,” Gothic heito “heat of a fever”), of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Lithuanian kaisti “to grow hot;” both could be from a substratum word.
Hadn’t made my way onto this page (de-) before, makes more sense in this context with the upper interpretation than what I was thinking from the second paragraph.
Welcome to English, no it doesn’t make sense and it contradicts it’s own supposed “rules” constantly, but it’s made of a hodgepodge of other languages, as well as slang that evolved from both it and those other languages, so what do you expect?
I prefer unfatigable myself.
You can’t teeg grandma.
inflammable means flammable?! What a country!
I would say you are more literate because it’s in the last sentence, most people never read that far.
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.
Hornblower?
In war we’re tough and able, Quite indefatigable. Between our quests we sequin vests and impersonate Clark Gable.
I. Have. To. Push. The. Pram a loooooot.
my thought process was IN (no) and FATIGUE (tired) per context clues it seems like someone who doesnt get tired
idk the word tho
That is roughly what it means, yeah.
Yes
It’s a perfectly cromulent word!
Indubitably
I came here to see if anybody else had that as a wordly wise word in high school
What about “infantile indefatigability”?
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.
The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, the second best time is now.
Well, get on with it then
definitely hope it’s in my sleep or on a lot of opiates
See this tale to a triumphant conclusion, and with elation in your heart, bid the final curtain fall.
Yep.
Do not go gently into that good night.
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
If life seems jolly rotten,
There’s something you’ve forgotten,
And that’s to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you’re feeling in the dumps,
Don’t be silly, chumps,
Just purse your lips and whistle,
That’s the thing.
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.
I’d assume her age and stuff need to be confirmed? Tho if it with Guinness it doesn’t really matter much, their entire record system is a sham.
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.
Hey, who needs social security when you have natural selection XD
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?”
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She can’t defend her record, go for it centurians!
it’s amusing that journalists still give these “world records” any amount of energy.
a serious career for serious people.
As serious as an edgy cynic on the Internet?
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that was edgy?
i do this for free, you cant afford my day job.
Just poking fun because I don’t really mind the occasional or even daily story about some random living long and prospering.
What’s wrong with world records?
I guess AP usually has better things to report on, but reporting is still reporting.
It’s about the delivery, not the subject matter 😎
you can just buy them without doing anything.
they’ll sell the same “record” more than once.
I can just buy a world record for oldest skydiver even though I’m 18?
yes.
yes.
Not from Guinness, no.
yes from Guinness, it is well documented.
Really? Can you show me the document that says Guiness sold an oldest person record to someone who was clearly not the oldest?
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I wonder what’s the world record for dying after you set a world record.
The suspense was killing her.
