THE GRAND FAREWELL
Born in Chicago soon after the First World War, Dorothy was an only child. She grew up amidst the raging influenza pandemic known as the ‘Spanish Flu’.
Her mother was Dessie H. Romey.
Dorothy spent all of her life in Chicago. She worked for four decades as a telephone operator for ‘Illinois Bell’. In later years, Dorothy trained new employees.
She never married or had any children. Dorothy claimed this gave her more freedom to enjoy herself.
Dorothy was a massive Chicago Cubs fan and loved opera as well.
Dorothy’s free time was spent on taking weekend road trips in her much-loved Dodge Coronet, taking beach vacations in Mexico or travelling through Europe.
Her favourite holiday was sailing down the River Danube, eating al fresco and listening to the water lapping against the boat.
Dorothy had a lengthy and enjoyable retirement.
Just before her one hundredth birthday, she moved into Brookdale Senior Living, a nursing home in her home city.
There, Dorothy became very close friends with nurse Joe Conant. They would eat breakfast together and he would finish his shift by having dinner with her. They often chatted until midnight. He called her ‘Grandma’ – at her request.
Joe remembered Dorothy loved to watch reruns of the TV programme M*A*S*H*, endlessly.
Dorothy was lively and energetic. She refused to ever take a nap in the afternoon and prided herself on never missing an appointment.
At the age of 100, Dorothy told Joe that her lifetime ambition was to do a skydive. They did it together and it was a success.
Dorothy had just passed her 104th birthday, when Joe asked her if there was anything she wanted to do. She reminded him of the skydive and asked if she could do it again.
The dive was arranged at Skydive Chicago Illinois, 85 miles south of the city. It was a 13,500-foot jump. A massive crowd came to cheer her on.
As she was about to leap out of the plane, Dorothy turned to her Tandem Jumper, Derek Baxter, and said, “What are we having for dinner?”
The jump was a big success. As she landed, Dorothy shouted to the crowd, “Age is just a number.”
Dorothy did not realise was that she had broken the world record for being the oldest person ever to do a skydive. The previous record was held by 103-year-old Swedish lady, Linnea Ingegard Larssen – set in May 2022.
Dorothy reflected, “It was wonderful up there. The whole thing was delightful, wonderful – couldn’t have been better.”
She had not done the jump in order to break the record but because she had so enjoyed her earlier effort. Joe said, “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.”
However, with the jump came extensive media coverage. Dorothy lapped it up. “She looked at it as an opportunity to meet new people.”
Dorothy was asked if she had been frightened during the skydive. She replied, “You know what really scares me? Going to the damn dentist.”
One week after her record breaking jump, Dorothy died in her sleep. The night before her death, she had a late supper with Joe. As he left, Dorothy said to him, “I love you my grandson.” They were her last words.
Joe said, “She was a dear friend who was an inspiration.”
The US Parachute Association and Skydive Chicago put out a joint statement. They said, “We are deeply saddened by Dorothy’s passing and feel honoured to have been a part of making her world-record skydive a reality.”
Skydive Chicago called her jump, ‘The Grand Farewell’.
RIP – Record (from) Impressive Pensioner
