Final Quarter feature: 85-year-old skydiver jumps closer to coveted gold wings

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DAVIS, Calif. (KTXL) – Kim Emmons Knor was 20 years old the first time she went skydiving: December 13th, 1959.

“I will never forget it,” she smiled. “It was in Chicago, it was very cold, and it was after a snowstorm.”

Her family had no idea she was jumping out of an airplane.

“But I had wanted to jump since I was six years old,” she said, triumphantly. “And the sky is definitely where I like to be.”

She experienced that for the first time in 1959.

In 1962, Kim Emmons Knor was the on U.S. women’s parachute team that finished in first place at the World Sport Parachuting Championship. From 1959-1966, she jumped regularly. Then she took a 37-year break to raise a family.

In 2003, she got back in the air.

“I have this free time and I’m retired. And what am I going to do?” laughs Knor. “I like to read books, but I can do that at night.”

During the day, she flies.

She has a goal of completing 1,000 jumps, which would earn her gold wings from the United States Parachute Association. As of Saturday, Knor has jumped 741 times.

“Jump 741, I’m so excited,” smiled Knor on the ground at SkyDance SkyDiving in Davis, where she jumped once on Saturday after also jumping on Friday (No. 740). “We went to 13,000 feet, came in in a very a safe landing and here we are!”

Knor, from Michigan, will be in Tracy next weekend for jump No. 742.

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Andrew Marden

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