Bruce Hoffmann, 94, Completes 6th Skydive

Jumping out of a perfectly good aeroplane might not be everyone’s idea of a good time, but for Resthaven Riverland Community Services client, Mr Bruce Hoffmann, there’s no better way to celebrate your birthday. Turning 94 on 14 November, Bruce completed his 6^th skydive on 23 November, this time taking to the skies with his daughter, Lori.

‘It is such an adrenaline rush,’ Bruce says. ‘I did my first skydive after I retired at 80. That time we dropped through the clouds, and I got a face full of raindrops, which wasn’t very pleasant, but it didn’t put me off! The wind rushes past you at around 200km/hour and it is very noisy – but it’s an amazing feeling.’

Bruce has completed most of his skydives at Langhorne Creek, and has also done one in Sydney with his grandson, Liam. Together, they managed a handshake during freefall – no mean feat. Bruce plans to do a jump each coming year to celebrate his birthday.

In the clouds

Bruce has always been one for the skies. Growing up in the Barossa Valley, at 20, Bruce earned his pilot’s licence and became the area’s first gliding instructor, as well as a founding member of the Barossa Valley Gliding Club. He also held the Australian two-seater glider altitude record for eight years, gliding at the low height of 12,600 feet, where it is difficult to find a thermal wind to glide along.

‘Anytime I can get in an aeroplane, I do,’ Bruce says, mentioning recent trips in a motorised glider over Loxton and Waikerie, as well as aerobatic flights at Aldinga.

Bruce says his interest in flying came after driving past Tiger Moth aircrafts at Parafield Airport in the 1950s.

‘Aircraft were different back then,’ Bruce says. ‘They didn’t go as fast, or as high, and they had an open cockpit.’

In 1956, at the age of 26, Bruce flew, with a pilot, in a Cessna from Parafield to Swan Reach to capture colour film footage of the River Murray in flood on a windup movie camera. Soon after, he also earned his Silver "C" certificate for a six-hour flight from Stonefield to Balaklava.

As well as flying, Bruce’s interests were in the family business of wine. His Tanunda-based family winery, Hoffmann's Wines, also had a catering premises attached, known as Joan's Kitchen, managed by his wife, Joan. The business has since changed hands and is now known as Peter Lehmann Wines.

‘People would come up from Adelaide on the train, transfer into the buses, and then come to us for a meal at Joan’s Kitchen,’ Bruce says. ‘They would have champagne on the train on the way up, and then we would show them a good time once they arrived. There were just 32 wineries in the Barossa Valley in those days, now there are more than 150!’

Bruce and Joan had five children. Sadly, Joan died at the age of 65.

In 1975, Bruce was inducted as one of the seven founding ‘Barons of the Barossa’. Of the founders, Bruce is the only one still alive. Bruce was also Vice President of the Barossa Valley Vintage Festival Association in 1975 and 1977, and voted in as President in 1979.

Moving on from the wine industry, Bruce owned a supermarket for awhile, before joining the parcel delivery company, UPS, at the age of 60. When he retired from here at 80, Bruce moved to Loxton. He now lives on his son and daughter-in-law’s property in a self-contained unit and is supported by Resthaven Riverland Community Services.

‘I only feel like I’m in my 50s or 60s,’ Bruce says. ‘I am in good health, and the small pains I have in my back and my hip don’t hold me back. I don’t complain because so many people have so much more going on.’

Bruce attends the gym twice a week, doing cardio and weight training sessions.

‘I get in the car and go somewhere most days,’ Bruce says. ‘Whether it’s the gym, or the RSL, or out for a meal, I’m always doing something.’

Bruce has 12 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

‘I have a very nice family,’ Bruce says. ‘Which is special, because it doesn’t always happen.’

Bruce has a few more things on his bucket list to cross off, including a Ferrari Hot Lap at The Bend (he’s already been around in a Mustang), flights in a Tiger Moth and a Waco biplane, as well as climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge and parasailing.

Congratulations on your latest skydive Bruce – here’s to many more!

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