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For his 100th birthday, Vernon Maynard went skydiving in Perris, Calif.
While most centenarians are content to simply blow out a candle on their 100th birthday, Vernon Maynard jumped out of an airplane.
The retired car dealer from Palm Desert, Calif., previously told a friend that the one thing he’d wished he tried in life was skydiving — and the friend got to work making the bucket-list dream a reality, Maynard told the Daily News.
“He’s just a real good friend. He made all the arrangements,” Maynard, who turned 100 this week, said with a laugh as he recounted his Monday afternoon jump from 13,000 feet in Perris, Calif.
“I’d say it was the biggest thrill I’ve had so far,” he said. “I got quite a view up there, and I was surprised how easy the landing was. It was like landing on a sofa, maybe because I was on top of my (tandem skydiving) instructor.”
RELATED: VIDEO: SKYDIVER LANDS PERFECTLY IN MOVING CAR
Maynard said he learned to fly a private plane in his younger years and almost went skydiving “accidentally” around 1947.
Maynard told the Daily News skydiving was the one thing he wished he tried in life — and a friend made all the arrangements to turn the bucket-list dream into a reality.
“I bought a surplus airplane after WWII, and it had so many straps, I forgot to buckle the lap belt,” he said. “Well, we were up doing some loops, and I fell out of the seat and hit the canopy. Luckily it was locked.”
When he was in his 90s, he jumped three stories off a cruise ship along the coast of Mexico, he said.
“I figured being in the air a little longer sure would be great, and it really was,” he told The News Wednesday. “My instructor left me up in the air until everyone else got down, so I really got to see a lot.”
RELATED: HELMET CAM FOOTAGE: SKYDIVERS TUMBLE, PLANE EXPLODES
He also confessed it wasn’t exactly easy getting medical clearance for the daredevil stunt.
“My heart doctor wouldn’t give me permission. My other doctors would just ignore the question when I asked,” he said. “Luckily my orthopedic doctor finally signed off on it. She’d tried (skydiving) before and had no problem.”
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Maynard’s two great-nephews accompanied him on the jump with instructors from Skydive Perris, and his daughter was waiting to greet him on the ground.
Maynard’s two great-nephews accompanied him on the jump with instructors from Skydive Perris, and his daughter Linda Hironimus, 64, was waiting to greet him on the ground.
“When he landed, I just lost it. He got up, and I’ve never seen him smile so wide. He was laughing. I was so proud of his stamina and endurance,” she said. “By the time he landed, I was a mess.”
RELATED: VIDEO: SEE FALL TO EARTH FROM JUMPER’S POINT OF VIEW
She said it never occurred to her to talk him out of it.
“I know my dad, and once he sets his mind to something, he pretty much does it,” she said. “It was futile to worry. And I was so excited because I knew how much it meant to him.”
Maynard said the dive was sponsored by the United States Parachute Association, and he’d love to try it again.
“I’m just tickled to death with people making such a commotion over it,” he said.
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