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sangiro

Condolences for Chris Martin (GroundZero)

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Like everyone else, I still can't believe it's true. there's no freaking way.

Chris thanks for everything that you gave to this sport. I'll miss you,

Dave
______________________________________________
- Does this small canopy make my balls look big? - J. Hayes -

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2 gone in the Blue for me...

Yea what can I say both my Aff Jumpmasters have gone for now. Kent Stephens-My friend who always helped me in Tullahoma become the Skydiver I am . And Chris being like a Brother I never had. Yea he may have pissed a few people off here and there but never me. He helped me in every fashion to the Name of this Sport. I will miss him[B] very very much.[/B] N5542B Cessna will live on in my heart knowing Chris always liked to throw me out on the Tandem loads. I was always the lightweight guy and he could put me anywhere...PEACE Chris and Kent Fly on Forever my Friends..

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I never got to meet Chris, but when we talked on here, we didnt always see eye to eye. I called him one afternoon to straighten some things out, and I think we both walked away with more respect for one another. Im sorry I never got a chance to meet him in person.

My condolences to his family and everyone hurting from this accident.

Johnny
--"This ain't no book club, we're all gonna die!"
Mike Rome

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Mr Martin...
oh I'm so sad to hear this news. I didn't get to know you long enough. I just read a post where you used my line. Every time I pack my parachute, your work will still be there. I already miss you on my IM list. I'm so glad I had the pleasure of giving you a hug before you moved on. Rest in peace brother.

_______________________
aerialkinetics.com

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I first came to know Chris at the end of last summer. I had moved to CO and my size and old reserve at this altitude were a really unsafe combination. I needed a new reserve. Most companies would have told me I would have to wait until they could find an opening in their production schedule. Instead, Chris turned Precision's production schedule on it's ear and managed to get me an R-Max 288 made in record time.

It says a hell of a lot about a business person's character when they ignore their training(ie keep production flowing smoothly) to do the right thing. And I am just sorry I never got the oppertunity to thank Chris in person.

Blue Skies Bro,

-Blind
"If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

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I have never posted on any of the forums here. I just come here once in a while to see whats going on in the skydiving community. Today, on my way home from Z-Hills, I find out about Chris' passing, from my friend Orlando Amador, and this is the time for me to post. I believe I owe it to Chris. I only met him for a few days at the Puerto Rico FreeFall Fest but I considered him a friend. He showed a whole new world for me when he took me on my first birdman flight. He told me "Get yourself a birdman suit and do as many jumps as you possibly can with it so when I see you next year, you'll be a great birdman." and thats exactly what I've been doing. Ever since then most of my dives have been birdman jumps. I just recently moved to Florida and on one of my first visits to Skydive City I saw a flyer anouncing a Memorial day boogie for the next weekend and Chris was going to be there. I was pretty stoked about that because I would get the chance to fly with him again. But the boogie was cancelled due to these stupid hurracanes passing through here. Today I made my first 3 Skyflyer dives and the first thing I thought after doing them was "man I wish Chris was here at this boogie, It would have been so much fun."
I thank him for what he has done for me and others. Being the new guy at a dropzone can be a little intimidating, so I would end up going solo on my freefly dives, but every time I would put on my wingsuit, I would end up doing doing some really cool and fun dives with other birdmen that just met on the way to boarding the plane. It has been a great way to make new friends.
Thank you Chris for opening so many doors for me and for giving wings to me and so many. You will be missed.

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Quote

I also never met Chris but I had the unfortunate task of seeing how this event effected two very close friends this weekend.He must have been a great man.



You two would have been fast friends. I talked to him about hosting a roaming dz boogie like we talked about in Tullahoma just last Sunday after we left The Farm and went back to Tullahoma. I'm so glad we did. He was all about bringing the boogie.

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Everyone, Kristi thanks you all for all of your kind words. she has read some of the threads and will continue to do so over the next few days. We will post more details of the service when we get it. Thanks for all of your prayers.

Holly West - Kristi's sister-in-law

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Chris must have touched many lives around the world. Even rec.doc has a thread about him.

Upon reading the posts from friends here, ones who have met Chris in person and ones who have chatted here on-line with him, he indeed was loved dearly.

Fly on, dear Chris and now show the angels how it's -really- done.

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

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*tear* Dammit...it seemed like only yesterday when I saw Chris at Rantoul and made some comment about his Hawiian shirt I was secretly in love with.

Blue skies, GZ...thanks for all your help, advice, and patience while I was canopy shopping. :(
Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

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I never met Chris in person, but I knew him here in cyber world as Ground Zero. Reading all the posts here, I know he was a great man.

My prayers go out to his family and friends.

God bless you Chris,



_________________________________________
Chris






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Speaking of babies, I also remember the time he ran over to my truck like he was going to come out to the bar with me and Londke, but it was all a ploy to plant a poopy diaper in the back seat. The whole time I thought Londke had eaten something rotten! hehehee... :D So after I found it I planted it in the desk drawer in manifest. Nice sunday morning surprise! :ph34r:



Oh.. my.. goodness. That's absolutely hilarious. :D:D

I made 2 jumps today. That's 2 more than I would have had I not heard the news. I fly a Xaos 27 cell. It was bittersweet looking up at it today.

I met Chris in real life at the Byron Boogie last year. We clicked right away. We've talked or chatted frequently ever since. He was very passionate about his family and friends, skydiving and BASE. What a neat guy... I'm so glad I got to meet him and hang out the short time we did. If you asked, he would answer. That went not only for parachute related questions but life questions as well.

I flew today to remember a friend. It's not like we were great life long buds, but some people affect me in such a positive manner, and Chris was one of them.
~~~~~~~~~
"Turn that camera on... I wanna go play" --Chris Martin as he was climbing over the rail ready to jump off.

I thought to myself ... oh shit.. That's almost as bad as hold my beer,.. and he y'all, watch this :P
My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

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Chris:

You will be missed. Although we had a couple of brief encounters and exchanges, it was enough to realize what a great person you are. Our thoughts and prayers are with your family.

Blue Skies.
Jorge
Y yo, pa' vivir con miedo, prefiero morir sonriendo, con el recuerdo vivo".
- Ruben Blades, "Adan Garcia"

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AAAAAAWWWWW!!!! :(:(:(

I hadn't been up to Tullahoma in several years, but I always had fun when I was up there. Chris was cool, always nice and friendly to me.

I still treasure the memories of jumping the Mr. Douglas DC-3 and King Air T-tail 200 at Tullahoma... We even got a few jumps from 17K in the 200 at no extra cost...

He will be dearly missed by all who knew him...

Blue Skies
Billy
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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In an attempt to smile.... here are two of my favorite pics of Chris taken at WFFC this year. He just had to wear the hat.... even though I kept telling him that the shirt with the hat was just too much! lol

And I'll always remember flip-flops with rubber bands. :D
Pink Mafia Sis #26

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Chris took me on my first jump in 1994 and taught me AFF. I've lost several friends to skydiving from that time( Bill McShane, Erin Engle), but I always thought Chris was immortal. It's times like this that make me want to hang it up, but I never do. I wish I could have seen him one more time. If anyone has Denny Collins, Wade Storie or Kent Stevens numbers please PM them to me.



Ed

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Chris was a well-respected and decent member of the skydiving community. You could always count on a straight answer, even if it was something you didn't want to hear- It was his DZ, and he called the shots. More than once, Chris counseled me on not getting too small a canopy (or reserve) too quickly; in fact, I upped the size of my container now on order because he reminded me I'm not 21 anymore and a 118 reserve was too small.

Chris also had a great sense of humor (which I sometimes missed when he'd crack something off). We always had a good time when he was around.

A couple of rememberances: I remember the last load flown on Mr. Douglas a few years ago, when Chris comes back from the cockpit and says, "I guess we'll all have to get out a five grand". When someone asked why, he grinned as he pointed to the port window; the prop was sitting still....

Then, at WFFC 2003, we were getting ready to try and chunk that 17-way off the C130; Chris was on the back deck with his birdman suit on; it had rained earlier and the cloud cover at sunset was simply beautiful. I remember watching him look out the back deck, and thought, "I'll bet it's beautiful from his vantage point." (SEE ATTACHED PIC - that's him in relief) We had a laugh later when he saw them give the green light and we were getting put out over Interstate 57!

Melissa and I will miss Chris, and we offer our sincere condolences to his Kristi and the girls. Blue skies our friend.

Keith and Melissa Abner
Nashville
Keith Abner
D-17590

"Those who do, can't explain; those who don't, can't understand"

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