skymama (D 26699)
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Sep 14, 2011, 9:14 AM
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Robyn Dahler (skyflower_bloom)
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Robyn died 9/9/11, in a non-skydiving related way. The obituary can be found here.
Robyn took a lot of heat in the forums because of her long-winded posts, but you gotta hand it to her for being an inquisitive person who was anxious to learn. I never met her, but online she seemed like a caring person and a devoted mother.
Because her family may read this thread, please don't speculate as to the cause of her death, but instead share any fond memories that you have of her.
Blue Skies, Robyn.
(This post was edited by skymama on Sep 14, 2011, 9:23 AM)
Ouch. She was one of those super-enthusiastic but struggling newbies in the sport. It is interesting to read her posts and those of other such jumpers, to hear about how they work through and hopefully overcome problems as they gain experience. Her long posts were classics! Being dead sucks.
Robyn was a hard-core, no-compromises vegan. She championed breast-feeding, and home birthing. Robyn volunteered a LOT of time to various groups in Wisconsin. She was a lot of fun, had some very unique perspectives on the world, and made people think (one way or another). Yes, Robin could get crazy verbose, but that's mostly because expressing every detail of her thought was pretty important to her. She didn't ever assume much about anyone. My favorite story is when she came to Elsinore, she thought the bunkhouse had a maid and linen service like a hotel. Her 2 year old woke the whole place up at 5 a.m. when he was hungry. He got into everyone's food, and this bothered Robyn because she didn't want him eating meat or dairy (kinda hard around a bunkhouse of carnivoric sloths). Her son kept getting into food, so one of the guys gaff-taped him to the wall. He was not happy, but when his mom came out, he was laughing once he saw her. She wasn't too happy at first either, but it didn't take long til everyone was laughing. Trying to find her a Vegan pizza in Elsinore wasn't easy either, but she managed to do it. She also somehow managed to remove all the pictures of sexy women posing in the bunkhouse. Jose had some good ones from sports magazines. She didn't care for them, and did some interesting things with them. Braeden, I have your cow toy at my house.
The next time she came out, she stayed in a motel, and so we didn't see as much of Braedon; he was being babytended by another skydiving friend. Robyn grew a lot that week too. Robyn borrowed my helmet (the shot seen on her FB page) and asked me if she could remove the "Have you kicked your packer today" sticker, because she was just that non-violent.
http://www.facebook.com/....php?v=1720408483364 is her first jump outside of Wisconsin. She is supposed track back and forth past the base, and then track as far as she can at 5K. She really wanted to excel at skydiving. We spent a lot of time working on her track and she grew a lot in a week.
I suspect most folks only saw the very talkative, super hyper Robyn, but when it was cloudy out, she went deep into some intense subjects. I'd suggest she was well-read if not well-educated. She loved people, wanted to make a positive contribution wherever she went, and freely shared her knowledge and her passion. She overflowed with passion for everything she was doing. If it was the 60's, I'd say she defined "Flower child" in every sense.
Her return trip to S'nore was filled with wet weather, so she spent a lot of time touring the area and seemed to have fallen in love with this place. She made a lot of friends here. Her FB chats and emails were always filled with fun things, sometimes silly things, but she stayed in close touch, writing often. Her last email is one I'll keep close to my heart for a long, long time. You'll be missed, Robyn.
(This post was edited by DSE on Sep 14, 2011, 10:57 AM)
Although I only knew her through this site, I did enjoy her posts, giving her a hard time, and listening to her experiences in the sport. My heart goes out to her son and her family. Blue skies, skyflower, we'll miss you here.
Sad, sad news. I never met her in person either but she seemed to be a genuine, energetic, passionate, caring spirit.
Yeah her posts were huge . . her first couple of posts made my eyes cramp . . but I came to look forward to reading them and getting her perspective, even if I needed to block out 15 minutes to read through
She's going to be missed. I hope in some way her family can capture the essence of who she was for her son's sake. When he's older and ready to learn more about his mom, I'm sure they have quite a lovely story to tell.
I only knew Robyn through the .net and the phone, we'd conversed often though, and it seemed we'd been friends for years. She was going to bring Braedon to Oshkosh this past July but got busy and couldn't make it.
Robyn was very inquisitive regarding the sport, I always enjoyed her calls with a 'quick question' that would turn into 2 then 4 then 8...
From what I knew of her Robyn was smart, opinionated, outspoken and tough as nails (faceplant bankshot off the step) ...all great qualities in a person. She will be missed.
I am sort of shocked and have tears in my eyes! I never met Robyn in person but had some fun and interesting exchange with her when she bought my Pilot canopy recently. Only 2 weeks ago she was asking me about having too hard openings with it and I was giving my best assuring her that I never had issues with the Pilot and commenting on her (extensively described) packing methods, attempts to make it better. I DO hope that she enjoyed the few jumps and canopy rides despite and very much regret not having jumped with her in our both beloved Elsinore! So sorry we have never met really and so sad you are no longer with us! Condolescence to the family and friends and all the best to her kid! Fly free Robyn!
(This post was edited by gzimmermann on Sep 15, 2011, 12:46 PM)
I didn't know Robyn outside of her DZ.com posts and facebook, but I am greatly saddened to have heard of her passing. I enjoyed reading her lengthy threads. Her style of writing was unique and verbose, but I felt almost like I knew a bit of her, after reading her posts. She seemed like a very loving a good mother and friendly, inquisitive person. It's sad that she has left us. I hope that she has found peace. My thoughts are with her baby boy and loved ones. Fly free, lovely Robyn.
(This post was edited by VanillaSkyGirl on Sep 15, 2011, 4:54 PM)
Robyn was a really wonderful person. I got to know her during her trips to Elsinore and always looked forward to her visiting us again. I had just talked with her about when she would come visit again and finally jump together. My arm was broken on her last visit and I spent my time on the DZ visiting with people and taking pictures. I'm glad I had that down time and was able to sit around and talk and take some pictures of her (including the one Skymama posted and a few I'm including here).
The picture Skymama posted captures her well and it's how I'll always remember her. She was vibrant and full of life and was a joy to have around the DZ. She was a passionate person. About skydiving, her son, and her life and the way she lived it. She has been taken far too soon, but she lived her life to the fullest she could.
The first picture is Robyn just before going up on a jump. The second is after her first sunset canopy flock jump. And the final picture is of that flock.
Absolutely tragic. Such a loss! I also only knew her from her posts here, but from them, she did seem like such a caring, passionate person. Condolences to her friends & family, especially young Braeden. Absolutely no doubt about her love for that little guy!
DSE (D 29060)
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Sep 16, 2011, 8:57 AM
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