Married James L (Jake) Gribble 31 May 1891 in Boone, Boone Co., IA.
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Seattle Post-Intelligencer Thurs., Dec. 26, 1968, p.53 AND Seattle Times Thursday, December 26, 1968, p.50
Funerals:
Gribble, Estelle. Private services. Yarington's White Center Funeral Home
(No obit found in either paper)
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(Newspaper & date unknown, but about 1957 based on her age in the article)
SEATTLE WOMAN WAS PIONEER PARACHUTIST AS TEEN-AGER
When Mrs. Estella B. Gribble was a teen-ager, she was billed at amusement parks and fair grounds as the youngest girl parachutist in the world.
Before she was 20 years old, Mrs. Gribble had made more than 200 parachute jumps.
But it was years later before she had her first ride in an airplane.
Sounds impossible? No, it's just that there weren't any airplanes when Mrs. Gribble did her jumping. She used balloons filled with hot air.
"That was 66 years ago," Mrs. Gribble said Friday as she celebrated her 80th birthday anniversary in her home at 9623 37th Av. S.W.

1st Jump Was in 1891
Mrs. Gribble made her first parachute jump when she was 14. That was in June, 1891, in Oskaloosa, Iowa.
She had been married a week earlier to Jake Gribble, who was trying his hand as a barn-storming parachutist.
On one of his jumps, however, Gribble landed in a swamp filled with stagnant water. He swallowed some of the water and became ill. His teen-aged wife decided to take over his job.

'Chute "Just Dangled"
"There really wasn't much to it, " Mrs. Gribble said yesterday. "There was a large balloon, which we filled with hot air. The top of the parachute was attached to the balloon with a rope."
"When the balloon went up, the parachute just dangled from it, with me dangling below the parachute," she added.
Did she use a harness of any kind to tie her to the parachute?
"Nope," Mrs. Gribble said. "I just hung onto the rope with my hands."
"When I got high enough, I would yank another rope to cut the parachute loose from the balloon. Then I'd just come down."

200 Jumps in 8 Years
Mrs. Gribble made more than 200 jumps in the next five years. Then she retired to a career as a housewife. Gribble died a few years later. Mrs. Gribble moved to Seattle in 1916.
She has lived here since then, making her home with her sister, Mrs. Mabel Wistrom.
Mrs. Gribble has a daughter, Mrs. Hazel Kates, (page covered), a brother, James Casteel, Auburn, and another sister, Mrs. Myrtle Neville.