A 100-Year-Old Grandma Went Skydiving To Prove Age Is Just A Number

Verdell Gregor was born in 1926, the year Marilyn Monroe was born, the year the first transatlantic telephone call was made, and the year the first liquid-fueled rocket was launched. She has outlived every one of those milestones by a century, and on August 14, 2026, the day after she turned 100 years old, she jumped out of a plane over Utah. She tandem-skydived with a professional instructor at Skydive Utah in Tooele County, falling from altitude before a parachute opened and carried her safely to the ground, where her family was waiting. Her daughter Ronda Shields told KSL that her mother has always been the type of person who does not sit still, and that the skydive was not a surprise to anyone who knows her. Verdell said afterward that the experience was absolutely wonderful, that she was not scared at all, and that she would do it again.

Verdell has been a fixture of her Utah community for decades, known for her energy, her warmth, and her refusal to let age define what she is willing to try. Her family said she has been talking about doing a skydive for years, and that turning 100 felt like exactly the right moment to follow through. The jump was captured on video, which her family shared on social media and which spread quickly because of what it shows: a woman who has been alive for a full century strapped to a parachute, completely at ease, describing the view from altitude as breathtaking. The Skydive Utah team said she was one of the most composed tandem jumpers they had ever taken up, asking clear questions during the briefing, listening carefully to every instruction, and showing no hesitation at the door of the plane. Age, she told her family when it was over, really is just a number. Her family, who were on the ground watching, said it was the best birthday celebration they could have imagined. Verdell, who has seen 100 years of history from the inside, seemed to agree.

Source:https://www.ksl.com/article/51609781/100-year-old-skydiving-grandma-proves-age-is-just-a-number