Thank you!

[WV177RG 19]

Thanks to our pioneers for making human flight possible. To Tiny Broadwick, Jacques Istel, Joe Kittinger, Jr., Nate Pond, Bill Booth, Deanna and Norman Kent, Pat Works, the cast/crew of Ripcord and The Gypsy Moths, and countless others for firing my imagination since I dragged my parents to the '62 World Meet at Orange. To David Hersey, Howard White, Old Weird Bill (OWB) Coffey, The Air Adventures Boys (Rich, Ian and Tommy), my incredible wife Marianne, and the great folks at Pepperell and Jumptown for accepting me into the fold. And to you, our extended skydiving family, caretakers of skydiving's precious history and pioneers of the next era: Fly fast, fly safe!

"It's not the number of breaths we take--it's the moments that take our breath away."

[WV177RG 19]

Pardon a flying fossil for omitting the personal stuff first time around:

My dad said I was the only kid he knew whose heroes were the Mercury 7 Astronauts and the members of the Boston Symphony…to which I added the cast of Ripcord. Lurked skydiving/flying from the time I dragged my folks to the ’62 World Championships at Orange, MA until I started flying in ’78, skydiving in ’93. (No, not 1893!)

52 years later—how is that possible?—I cherish my amazing extended skydiving family, exercise my C License when I can, hold an ATP certificate with 7200 hours as a retired regional airline captain and barnstormer, skywriting and banner towing over the east coast in WWII vintage aircraft. POPS #5215, now SOS #1860, I’ve been lurking dz.com for over a decade. (I read a dozen of you religiously.) In my “Clark Kent” life, I’m approaching 30 years with “that other Pops” organization located in Boston as a guest conductor, staff conductor and violinist. At the DZ, I’m just another fun jumper. I once overheard a young lady ask Sir Colin Davis for advice regarding the road to success as a symphony conductor. He shot back, “Keep your bloody ego out of it!” Words to live and fly by.

Thanks to all of you for preserving this magical sport!

"It's not the number of breaths we take--it's the moments that take our breath away."