Guest #1 April 18, 2004 Hey all, Just back from Ben "Superman" Jacobson's memorial service, held in a hangar at Harvey Field in Snohomish, WA (home of the Seattle Skydivers, of which Ben was a member) this evening. What a turnout. There must have been at least one hundred people there. There were members of Ben's family, Shannon's family, and Ben's fellow servicemen from his USN Special Ops detachment (Ben was a reserve Medical Corpsman); however, most were members of Ben's extended family - his skydiving brothers and sisters who came to pay tribute to this fine young man. Ben's brother opened the ceremony, followed by a female jazz singer (another of Ben's many, many friends) who sang "Son of a Preacher Man". This was followed by an open-mike session in which members of the audience were invited to come up and share anecdotes about Ben. Some of them were insanely funny. After this, the singer led us all in a beautiful a-capella rendition of "Amazing Grace", followed by a USN honor guard, who unstowed a US flag for "Taps", then folded and presented it to Shannon. You could have heard a pin drop when Ben's CPO, who was leading the honor guard, presented the flag to Shannon and saluted. At this point, the room was full of sniffles. I swear, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. It was marvelous. Afterwards - the food - oh my gosh - talk about hitching on the ol' nosebag. There were home-made goodies of every description: scalloped potatoes, barbecued chicken, desserts, and more. And for beverages - three coolers full of iced beer, a whole shelf of wines, some hard stuff like Crown Royal, and a huge jug of Ben's favorite poison, Everclear & Kool-Aid... And I have to say to my DZ.com brothers & sisters - I'm sorry, but I didn't take photos. It wasn't that I forgot, but it was such a solemn occasion (and I was there to pay my respects, not to wear my Jimmy Olson hat) that it didn't seem appropriate. But what a super memorial for a super guy. Blue Skies, Ben! mh ."The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Viking 0 #2 April 18, 2004 QuoteAt this point, the room was full of sniffles. I swear, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. It was marvelous. ya amazing grace and taps tends to do that to even the strongest people RIP Ben I swear you must have footprints on the back of your helmet - chicagoskydiver My God has a bigger dick than your god -George Carlin Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
