Katharina Paulus

Paulus was born in Zellhausen, today part of Mainhausen, near Frankfurt, Germany, into a working-class family. Her father worked as a day laborer and died when she was nineteen years old. After his death, Paulus picked up her mother's trade of seamstressing to help support the family. At 21, she met Hermann Lattemann, a well-known balloonist, and began working as his assistant to repair the balloons with her skills as a seamstress. Paulus and Lattemann begun to develop their professional and personal relationship, until Paulus began to parachute herself, and the two eventually were married. They had a son, Willy Hermann Paulus, who later died of diphtheria. In 1895, the couple were on a joint jump when Lattlemann's parachute failed to deploy. Paulus watched him fall to his death. While grieving the death of her husband, Paulus stayed in bed for months. During this time, thousands of admirers mailed letters of support to her to request she continue her career of being a ballooner. She then bought four new parachutes and set off on a tour of Europe using the stage name Miss Polly. She performed theatrically, using acrobatic feats and even riding a bicycle suspending from a hot air balloon's basket. Paulus became an international success. Paulus completed her last balloon jump at age 63 on August 5, 1931. == Death ==