Sunday, November 17, 2019

Return to the Sky after 44 years

On Thursday, 14 November I returned to the sky.  It was my 39th jump, but it was my first since May of 1975.  And it was my first tandem jump.  I jumped with El Paso Skydive at the Santa Teresa Airport in southern New Mexico.
                                                 The plane was a King Air A-90K
 It was equipped with seatbelts for 6 or 8 people, but no seats (except for pilot and copilot, of course)
I still have my jumpsuit from 1975, and over it went the harness with which I would be strapped to my instructor.


Here is the video of the jump. It is about 4 minutes, 45 seconds long.

and here are a few pictures taken from the ground as we landed.








On all 38 previous jumps, I was in charge of controlling my chute.  This time I was simply a passenger enjoying the view and the ride.






Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Mom Downs' 100th Birthday


If my mother, Eleanore Downs, were still alive, she would now be 100 years old!  Born in Rockport, Massachusetts in 1919 she graduated from Fitchburg State Teachers College in Massachusetts and married my father, Herb Downs, soon after.

Here she is

                                                          With the whole family

                                 With Dave, Bev, Allen & Lois at the St. Lawrence Seaway


                                                  With Dad and Allen at WPI in 1962

                                              With Dad at their 25th wedding anniversary

                                        With Dad, Allen, Bev, & Lois in Newport RI in 1967

                           With Chris, Allen, and Dad at Allen's graduation from WPI 1971

                                 Mom's birthday party with Tammy, Lois, Saucy, Dad, & Jane

                                              With Fred and Dad at Allen's wedding to Saucy

                                                     At the log cabin with Dad & Allen

                                                   At Lois' wedding with the whole gang

                                                  With her sister Stella after going on oxygen

We miss her and want to remember her as we note the 100th anniversary of her birth.