Ardath L Evitt

Ardath Leona (Shuler) Evitt was born to John Shuler (1874 - 1935) and Stella I (Parker) Shuler (1875 - 1919). She had one sister, Avis Lenora Shuler (1904 - 1993). Ardath Shuler married William Stephen Evitt (1900 - 1967). He was a farm laborer and she was a housewife when their son Oren Leon Evitt was born on May 21 1926 in Vermillion Indiana. Ardath and William had been married in the People Tabernacle Methodist Church on August 10 1922 in Paris IL They also had children Bernard A. (1928 - 2007), Madeline (1931 - 1971), Richard Lee Evitt (1947 - 2005) and John Perry Evitt (1932 - 2021). In the 1930 census, Ardath was 26, married, living in Broullitts Creek, IL, and stated that she was 18 when first married and that she could read and write. She was living with husband William, age 29, son Oren, age 3, and son Bernard, age 1. William was a farmer. In 1978, Ardath was the oldest person to make a parachute jump for the first time. She was 74 years old and had always wanted to jump from an airplane. Ardath was a great-grandmother at the time and her first attempt on July 24 was thwarted by thunderstorms. But she made it on August 7th! She then appeared on the Johnny Carson show to describe her adventure. (She beat the record of a 69 yr old woman who had jumped the year before.) After the jump she was quoted in the paper as saying: 'I'll do it again . . . I think anybody who is as old as I am, as long as they can walk and talk and act foolish, might as well have fun." A long article, with a few pictures before she made the jump, appeared in the Chicago Tribune on August 30, 1978. See Ardath L Evitt. She looked so happy! About the Johnny Carson show on which Ardath appeared: Johnny presents magazines aimed at unusual hobbies. Elia Kazan (novel "Acts of Love"); Bess Armstrong (How to Pick Up Girls! (1978)); Bobby Kelton performs stand-up; Ardath Evitt talks about taking up parachuting at age 74.