NoShitThereIWas 0 #1 May 19, 2008 Sadly and with a heavy heart, I am here to inform the skydiving community that Steve Parrella passed away this last weekend in his home. For those of you who did not know Steve, he was a great guy, caring father, good friend and to me, one of my 4 Way teammates on Quantum Leap's 2004 team, "Crazy Pants". Steve worked for American Airlines as a captain and accident investigator and he worked at Quantum Leap as an AFF instructor, coach and S&TA. Steve was always willing to take the time with students and he was an inspiration to the sport of skydiving. Steve was one of the only two survivors to come out of the Quantum Leap crash which incidentally, is coming up on it's 2 year anniversary on July 29th. Steve survived the crash but sustained severe injuries including damage to his spinal cord. After battling for his life in ICU and in the hospital, Steve got to go home but ended up paralyzed from the chest down. I do not know yet how or why Steve died, I do know that his life after the QL crash changed drastically. Steve was a fighter and accomplished many great things in his lifetime. He was very respected in our community of skydivers and we will remember him always. Blue skies Steve, I hope you are in a better place now and that you are jumping once more with our old friends Scott, Robert, Rob and Dave. Dakota, "the prettiest girl in Sullivan" was so sad when I told her the news today Blue skies Steve. Love, "Alfredo"Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ragnarok 0 #2 May 20, 2008 Steve, I still hear your adivce when I skydive. I will remember the things you taught me - and when I teach my students, I hope to bring them to the understanding you brought me to. Jen, remember, Steve was on reserve for my first skydive and you were on my main side. Never thought I would regret not getting video of that jump.........._________________________________________ Twin Otter N203-Echo,29 July 2006 Cessna P206 N2537X, 19 April 2008 Blue Skies Forever Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snowwhite 0 #3 May 20, 2008 Quote Sadly and with a heavy heart, I am here to inform the skydiving community that Steve Parrella passed away this last weekend in his home. For those of you who did not know Steve, he was a great guy, caring father, good friend and to me, one of my 4 Way teammates on Quantum Leap's 2004 team, "Crazy Pants". Steve worked for American Airlines as a captain and accident investigator and he worked at Quantum Leap as an AFF instructor, coach and S&TA. Steve was always willing to take the time with students and he was an inspiration to the sport of skydiving. Steve was one of the only two survivors to come out of the Quantum Leap crash which incidentally, is coming up on it's 2 year anniversary on July 29th. Steve survived the crash but sustained severe injuries including damage to his spinal cord. After battling for his life in ICU and in the hospital, Steve got to go home but ended up paralyzed from the chest down. I do not know yet how or why Steve died, I do know that his life after the QL crash changed drastically. Steve was a fighter and accomplished many great things in his lifetime. He was very respected in our community of skydivers and we will remember him always. Blue skies Steve, I hope you are in a better place now and that you are jumping once more with our old friends Scott, Robert, Rob and Dave. Dakota, "the prettiest girl in Sullivan" was so sad when I told her the news today Blue skies Steve. Love, "Alfredo" Steve provided a great seminar at Rantoul which was titled something to the effect "Human Error as a factor in the skydiving accident" A day or two later the QL accident happened and his life and so many others were changed forever. He was a great and giving guy, and we will all miss him. I really enjoyed our talks together. It seems impossible that he is gone.skydiveTaylorville.org freefallbeth@yahoo.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
peek 21 #4 May 20, 2008 I hardly know what to say or think. I had just talked to Steve about 2 weeks ago about aircraft safety. And he sounded very good. He was a great S&TA as well as all of the other things he did. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
diverdriver 6 #5 May 20, 2008 Quote I hardly know what to say or think. I had just talked to Steve about 2 weeks ago about aircraft safety. And he sounded very good. He was a great S&TA as well as all of the other things he did. I'll second that. I've been PMing with Steve for quite awhile now. I am so saddened to hear about this! Dang Steve go easy. BSBD.Chris Schindler www.diverdriver.com ATP/D-19012 FB #4125 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NoShitThereIWas 0 #6 May 21, 2008 For those wanting to know more about services for Steve, you can view his obituary at: http://obit.baue.com/obitdisplay.html?id=544343&listing=Current Sorry, I still do not know how to make that a clicky so if someone wants to they can or just copy and paste. The memorial service is at Baue funeral home in St.Charles (off of Cave Springs Rd). It's on Saturday May 31st, beginning at noon and ending at 3 PM with an open microphone forum. There is also planning for an after hours social function but nothing has been set up as of yet. Futher details should be available on Baue's Funeral home website later today.Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
diverdriver 6 #7 May 21, 2008 http://obit.baue.com/obitdisplay.html?id=544343&listing=Current Click the "url" button at the bottom of the text typing window. Enter your link. Then click the "/url" button (same button it just changes what will be put on the screen). Voila. Clicky. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NoShitThereIWas 0 #8 May 21, 2008 Thanks Chris, you are always so helpful Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires." Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dmitch31 0 #9 May 29, 2008 Check out this thread on another forum that has published a poem written by Steve. It's very moving. As I read the poem, I wonder when he wrote it, but there's no date. One poster makes reference to having read it about a week before Steve passed on. I wonder if he wrote it that very recently. It's almost like he knew it was his time to go. http://www.smilinjack.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=001210 He was a great guy. One of the nicest people at Quantum. I can remember him being friendly enough to talk to me the first time I ever went out to the dz. I've never forgotten him for that. EDIT: Actually, I just found a post on the web that credits Steve for having written this poem for a colleague that passed away several years ago: http://or2.tripod.com/Jim_McGheeTribute.txt Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ragnarok 0 #10 June 11, 2008 Hey, Steve- I got my B-license today. Just wanted you to know._________________________________________ Twin Otter N203-Echo,29 July 2006 Cessna P206 N2537X, 19 April 2008 Blue Skies Forever Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
