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'Cheeky' 95yo celebrates another birthday jumping out of a plane

ABC News
2 min read Rewritten in plain language

Aged CareOlder PeopleLifestyle and Leisure

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  • Betty Gregory doesn't know any other 95-year-olds who celebrate their birthday the way she does — by jumping out of a plane.
  • Ms Gregory said she decided to downsize after living alone in her high-rise apartment for the past 26 years.
  • Melinda Griffiths, general manager of the southern Gold Coast facility where Ms Gregory now lives, said she was proof that life doesn't stop when someone moves into residential care.
  • Ms Gregory's son, Jim Gellately, 70, said his mother has been active her whole life and is always open to trying new things.
  • Mr Gellately said he and his two sisters would happily support their mother to go skydiving again, as long as she received medical clearance.

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Betty Gregory doesn't know any other 95-year-olds who celebrate their birthday the way she does — by jumping out of a plane.

This year marked the sixth time Ms Gregory has been airborne on her birthday, after she first took flight at age 80.

Even a recent move to a nursing home couldn't keep the great-great grandmother grounded.

"I just live one day at a time and anything I feel like doing, I do it."

Ms Gregory said she decided to downsize after living alone in her high-rise apartment for the past 26 years.

"It was right on the beach and I had a beautiful view from the balcony up to Surfers Paradise and I was really happy with that view," Ms Gregory said.

Ms Gregory now has daily assistance with personal care and uses a walking frame to get around her new home.

However, getting older won't stop her from jumping out of a plane for her birthday again next year.

"My friends are used to me doing things that are rather unconventional," Ms Gregory said

Melinda Griffiths, general manager of the southern Gold Coast facility where Ms Gregory now lives, said she was proof that life doesn't stop when someone moves into residential care.

"I think it just shows that there is so much more that actually happens in aged care than what people maybe believe or have misconceptions about."

Ms Griffiths said elderly people, especially those in aged care, should be encouraged to do what they love.

"This is just the start of another journey … and it's important for us to take the opportunities to try new things, to make sure that we're still involved in the community, understand what they like, what their passions are," she said.

Ms Gregory's son, Jim Gellately, 70, said his mother has been active her whole life and is always open to trying new things.

"We've got video after video after video of her doing different things, entertaining people," he said.

"And although she's not doing too much of that now, she gets all this notoriety from jumping out of the plane. Everybody speaks to her, which she loves."

Mr Gellately said he and his two sisters would happily support their mother to go skydiving again, as long as she received medical clearance.

"We've got no worries. We've never tried to talk my mum out of it.

", if the doctor says it's all right to do it, let them do it.

"So I figure, as long as you can just lift your knees up when they land, that's about all you've got to do, really."

You are reading our version, not theirs. This is ABC News's report with its verdicts and loaded words taken out. Plain description stays, and so do adjectives that carry a fact, such as "former" or "federal". The reporting, the facts and the quotations are theirs — quotations are never edited — and the indicators beside it measure this version. Hover or tap Adjectives to see every one left in the text.

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