Mom takes up skydiving at 80

[JohnRich 4]

Good press, from the Richmond (VA) Times Dispatch, June 20, front page of the Metro section.

See the attached image files for photo and story.

Oh heck, the image size restriction here makes the text somewhat unreadable, so let me run the article through my automagic text recognition software...

- begin story -

Betsy Koechlein celebrated her 80th birthday yesterday with a parachute jump, just as former President George H.W. Bush did to mark his own 80th earlier this month.

Moments after she was back on the ground at the airport near
West Point, Koechlein, clad in a red jumpsuit, summed up her maiden skydive: "Great! It was fantastic!"

As for her 45 to 6O-second freefall before the rainbow-colored chute opened, she described it as "Weird. I mean, it's not like what I do everyday. But it was not as bad as having a baby."

Koechlein jumped in tandem with instructor Kris Bagwell of
West Point Skydiving Adventures.

Before boarding a twin-engine plane with others for takeoff, she told Bagwell of a second motive for her skydive.

"My husband was a paratrooper in World War II," she said. "So I want to experience what he did."

Fred Koechlein, who died in 1994, was with the 92nd Airborne and jumped on D-Day. He was the tennis pro at the Country Club of Virginia and later at Willow Oaks Country Club before he retied and moved with his wife to Florida.

Betsy Koechlein's skydive was a family affair. Her son, Richard Koechlein, 53; her daughter, Nancy Koechlein ANderson, 51; and her son-in-law, Ed Beadles, 48, also made tandem jumps on the same flight.

"I figured that a tandem jump was the best way to get my butt out that door," Richard Koechlein quipped beforehand.

They jumped from 13,500 feet, or as Richard said, from "two and a half miles up in the sky."

Five minutes before they parachuted, Betsy Koechlein's other daughter, Gwen Beadles, 46, played her designated role as "ground control" to the hilt. She videotaped the whole adventure, and at one point she made a fist like a radio microphone and offered a parallel to a David Bowie tune by singing, "Ground control to Major Mom."

After the family skydive, Gwen Beadles also presented her mother what appeared to be official U.S. Army parachute jump wings sent by a friend of her mother's in Florida.

Bagwell had more praise for the 8O-year-old skydiver.

"She was out of the plane first, and there was not one second of hesitation. She led her whole family out."

- end story -

[kallend 2,107]

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"But it was not as bad as having a baby."

High praise indeed!

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[SkiD_PL8 0]

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"But it was not as bad as having a baby."

High praise indeed!

How in the world could that be the first thing that comes to your mind to say when you land?!

Greenie in training.

[CrazyDave 0]

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"But it was not as bad as having a baby."

High praise indeed!

How in the world could that be the first thing that comes to your mind to say when you land?!

the first thing i said was, "geese my ears hurt"
then i said "**** that was gud"

[Luv2Fall 0]

I watched her jump........lady had lot's of spirit about her and support from her family................great experience had by all.

[gredway 0]

The dropzone I was at the other week had a sponsered tandem jump (amongst others) - the passenger was an 83 year old guy who'd never done anything like this before. He was sponsered by Guide Dogs for the Blind because he was totally blind himself.

Amazing guy. Apparently he goes swimming twice a week, jogging (not sure how you do that blind!), as well as walking his dogs for miles each day.

Another member of that sponsered group was an elderly, but fit, lady who, again, was blind. I'm not sure of her age but her grandkids were over 15, so she must've been pretty old herself. Another amazing person. Not quite sure how these people do it.


Oh, hello BTW. This is my first post.

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[cvfd1399 0]

Cough not really beer worthy, but you did say FIRST!