From the Northern Muff Brothers Written January 21, 2007
yahoo muff muff muff hey assholes,
yesterday my best asshole friend went to that big ear
muff store in the sky... johnny gates was certainly
like no other person or skydiver... the grin forever
attached to his well worn face just had to make you
smile and even on a bad day he was filled with
compassion...just last night about 3:00 or 4:00 in the
morning i thought i should e-mail him since i didn't
get a chance to say goodbye at bridge day... if you
are wondering why i am writing one long sentence with
no capitol letters, it is in johnny's memory for that
is the way he wrote to me and others i know...i know
johhny didn't start the muff brothers and he was
always the first to tell you who did, but as far as
i'm concerned and as most know, their wouldn't be a
muff brothers or at least the thousands who are
members if it wasn't for johnny gates...the who's who
of muff brothers is quite astounding in our little
world of skydiving, of which johnny initiated most.
for years i have thought of johnny almost daily
because a part of his creed is my password on many of
my computer forums...he and i initiated my wife on her
first jump(tandem), last year along with arron stocum
(friend and tandem master) and tony hathaway on
camera, a memory that will forever live in our
hearts...johnny was a big part of the last few
goodtime boogie's and even when i couldn't offer him
much he paid his own way just to be a part of the
fun...i have so much more to say about a man who along
with jerry bird, bob gates and others kept me in
skydiving when i thought i no longer wanted to be a
part of it, yet i hope all of you will share your
stories of johhny and your initiation with me so that
i can compile into some sort of organized muff brother
mess to print and send out. please forward this to
your e-mail lists because mine is in need of much
updating. i don't know if johhny was a
religious kind of guy, but his attitude certainly was
one of generosity and love, you can be sure he will be
trying to initiate the big guy in the sky the first
chance he gets...goodbye for now my friend... i leave
you with the message he always finished his e-mails
with...
"hope to see you soon maybe rantouul or zhill,s if you
get the chance till later have fun & love each other
seeya mb65johnny"
AT 4:20 TODAY AND EVERYDAY RAISE YOUR MIDDLE FINGER
AND SHOUT MUFF MUFF MUFF!
ASSHOLE #2417 RUSTY RAHE