Woman, 84, Who Began Skydiving Again After Husband’s Death Is Halfway Towards Goal of 1,000 Jumps

"Anytime life gets too difficult or too sad just go make a jump and then everything's good," said Kim Knor

An 84-year-old Colorado woman is halfway towards her goal of making 1,000 skydive jumps.

Kim Knor, who made her first jump in 1959 when she was 20, is living her skydiving dreams again after taking a 37-year break, according to CBS station KCNC-TV.

Knor told the outlet that after her late husband had an accident while testing parachutes, she said she wouldn't skydive again, a promise she kept until after his death.

"My husband died and the kids were growing up and then the grandkids started coming and [after 37 years] I started jumping again," she told the outlet.

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Knor was five when she first introduced to the extreme sport by her uncle, who was trained to jump from planes in World War II, according to ABC affiliate WZZM.

Years later, she was on the first U.S. Women’s Parachute Team in 1962, according to The Longmont Daily Times-Call.

"We won the gold,” she told WZZM.

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Now, the veteran skydiver is working to earn her Gold Wings from the U.S. Parachute Association by skydiving 1,000 times — and she's nearly at 600, per KCNC-TV.

On Saturday, Knor took her youngest grandson, John Norsen, to the Mile-Hi Skydiving Center in Longmont — where Knor has jumped around 50 times — for his first jump.

“In our family, (skydiving) is almost a bit of a rite of passage,” another grandson told the newspaper. “My sister and my cousins and I always talk about who’s jumping next, who’s jumping again, and who’s making their first jump.”

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"This is what I live for," she said while speaking with KCNC-TV. "Anytime life gets too difficult or too sad just go make a jump and then everything's good."

The senior flyer has also encouraged other women to follow in her footstep.

“I keep encouraging them to at least go out and try. And if it’s your thing, you might end up getting a job at a drop zone and be around these people all the time,” Knor told The Longmont Daily Times-Call. “At most drop zones, everybody’s on a high, because they’re so happy to go up and jump.”

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