Parachuting into 90: Woman began sky diving after her 75th birthday

On Feb. 3, Katherine “Dolly” Hetrick retired after working for 22 years at Hancock Fabrics. She took a few days to do some sewing, spend some time with friends and take care of a few household chores. On Feb. 6, she jumped out of an airplane.

It’s not every 90-year-old who wants to free-fall from 15,000 feet, but it was old news for Hetrick, who has done it every five years since 2000.

“I used to tell people that if I made it to 75, I was going to jump out of an airplane,” Hetrick said. “People say that kind of thing all the time, but when I turned 75, I did it.”

She has had friends and family waiting on the ground at each jump. Her youngest son, Steve Hetrick, who now lives with her, has been to all the jumps, although he didn’t see much of the first one.

“The first time I couldn’t watch.” he said. “I stayed inside until they announced that her chute was open. This time, I was just relaxing and leaning on a fence and enjoying it. They looked like little stars up there.”

Hetrick’s daughter Kathy Schuller drove from Phoenix to attend one of the jumps.

Hetrick tandem jumped with Kyle Leseberg, a skydiving instructor with Skydive Las Vegas, based out of Boulder City Municipal Airport, 1201 Airport Road. They dropped about halfway to the ground before releasing the chute, which deployed at about 5,000 feet and floated gently to a landing.

“When you’re free-falling, you’re doing about 200 mph,” Hetrick said. “I think everyone should do it. It’s so quiet and beautiful up there. You can see so far.”

When she isn’t plummeting or floating, Hetrick spends time sewing. She’s a busy quilter and has been commissioned to create special ones for presentation. She’s fond of photo quilts, a process in which photographs or documents are scanned and printed on fabric and stitched into a quilt. She recently made a quilt using images from old Valentine’s Day cards saved from her childhood.

A quilt hanging in her home honors many of her and her family’s accomplishments memorialized in photos. Her previous skydives are documented there, along with baby pictures of her children, wedding photos and vacation photos from exotic locales.

“The first time I jumped, I had a photographer jump with me,” Hetrick said. “All the jumps after that, the instructor has had a camera strapped to his wrist. I have video of every jump.”

Hetrick had been steadily employed since 1960, when she took a job to supplement her family’s income. Despite retirement, she shows no signs of slowing down. She already has her eye on the next jump in 2020 and the one after that.

Contact East Valley View reporter F. Andrew Taylor at ataylor@viewnews.com or 702-380-4532.