![Jeannette Piccard pokes her head out of her Stratospheric Gondola after her record-breaking ascent.](http://judithfavor.com/wp-content/uploads/JennettePiccard_balloonist_HennepinCountyLibrary.jpg)
Jeannette Piccard pokes her head out of her Stratospheric Gondola after her record-breaking ascent.
“Dying is the last Great Adventure,” the Rev Dr Jeannette Ridlon Piccard told me as she lay dying with Congestive Heart Failure. The courageous high-altitude balloonist and first woman ordained to the Episcopal priesthood has inspired me for 50 years. Now her mighty soul accompanies mine on the Journey to Infinity.
![At her ordination as a deacon in 1971, Jeannette was presented by her granddaughter, Jane, left, then a U student in social work. On the right is Rev. Denzil Carty, first to affirm her calling as a priest. Minneapolis Star.](http://judithfavor.com/wp-content/uploads/Piccard-Ordination-Deacon.jpg)
At her ordination as a deacon in 1971, Jeannette was presented by her granddaughter, Jane, left, then a U student in social work. On the right is Rev. Denzil Carty, first to affirm her calling as a priest. Minneapolis Star.
My Congestive Heart Failure was diagnosed in May and has progressed rapidly from acute to fatal. Blessedly, I am mostly free of pain. Numbness and increased daily as congestion rises from feet and legs toward gut. Breathing is greatly aided by oxygen 24/7.
Even more blessedly, I am physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally upheld by the most unconditionally loving people on the planet. Plus the caring, compassionate comfort-care from VNA Hospice Team and my wise, kind and seasoned Doctor of Osteopathy. They come into my home daily with healing hands and hearts, so I am richly blessed with unconditionally loving TLC.
I welcome your prayers on this last Great Adventure. It feels great to sense your presence as I navigate the Great Sea of Unknowing into the Heart of God.
![Jeannette Piccard tells her ballooning stories to her grandaughter Betsy in 1963](http://judithfavor.com/wp-content/uploads/Jeanette-Betsy-Piccard.jpg)
Jeannette Piccard tells her ballooning stories to her grandaughter Betsy in 1963