Octogenarians make jump of a lifetime in skydiving adventure

Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Jump of a lifetime for 2 octogenarians
Jump of a lifetime for 2 octogenarians. Jeannette Reyes reports during Action News at 6 p.m. on July 10, 2017.

PERKASIE, Pennsylvania -- Most people have a bucket list of sorts, something they'd like to achieve in their lifetime.

But 85-year-old Frannie Lock, a grandmother of six, and 84-year-old Betty Diem, decided to take a giant leap together.

They are in the same balance class at Wesley Enhanced Living, and it was during a class that Diem, a former nurse in the Air Force, came up with an idea.

"I've flown a lot," she said. "I've just never jumped out of a plane."

That idea soon made its way to Lisa Haino, who's with the WEL Wishes program that helps seniors fulfill their lifelong dreams. She didn't think twice about making it happen.

"If it's something that they want to do, then we will encourage them," she said. "Age is just a number."

Lock's children were present and supportive at the skydiving jump in Perkasie, though they were not exactly ecstatic about the idea.

"They're sitting right over there waiting for me to jump," Lock said. "They think I'm crazy."

After months of planning, they took the jump Monday.

Lock and Diem admit they don't exactly have a profound lesson or message to send out to others with their latest adventure.

"It's a little scary coming out of the plane," Diem said, before adding she would do it again.

In fact, to them, age never really was a factor.

Jumping out of a plane, quite simply, was something they just wanted to do.