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sangiro

Condolences for Chris Martin (GroundZero)

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I was just as shocked as everyone else when I heard the news on Saturday. My condolences go out to his family and friends. I never know what to say when things like this happen....
For the past couple of years I would see him at the WFFC and stop and say hello or wave to him as he went by on his bicycle. This year at Bridge Day though I got a chance to chat with him for a bit. I poked fun at him for causing such a ruckus by giving away a free canopy on dz.com. He talked about his recent interest in BASE, he had definately been bitten by the base bug.
Blue Skies, Chris.
I have attached some photos from Bridge Day.

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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,
Chris and Kent are flying together now. PM sent.
Wade posts as "skywade" on these forums.

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I'd worked with Chris for the last 4 or 5 years, as a gear store salesperson, and even did a stint as a Precision Rep on a traveling road show. Chris is a perfect example of someone who's enthusiasim for skydiving and human flight never dies. I will try to continue that tradition.

Chris, my friend, my life is poorer in a small part from loosing you, but far richer than it ever would have been had I never met you. Your spirit lives on in each of us that's met you.

BSBD.

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I had the pleasure of spanning the globe with Chris this year. The trips to Brazil and Russia with him were none less than memorable along with all of the boogies we got to work together. I am glad to have known him and give my condolences to his family. Thank you Chris for sharing your knowledge with me and on behalf of myself and everyond here at Mirage, you will be missed. JT

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Do you remember when he tried to prove that Haley was definitely his daughter by how she responded when he tried to kiss her? She kept sticking her tongue out at him. lol



hehe.. yes I remember that.. at last fall's boogie. Haley has grown so much since then. Her personality is shining through each day she grows. If ever a little girl was loved by her daddy.. :)

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My sincerest sympathy and condolences to Groundzeros family and close friends:(.

I've had the pleasure of talking to Groundzero many times here at DZ.com and met and jumped with him and his group at his Tullahoma,TN DZ, I've a very fond memory of one jump in paticular which shall serve as my rememberance of him.

Eternal blueskies to one of our own....





Remember people... We can do everything right and still die, even more so when we push the edges of the performance envelope.

ChileRelleno-Rodriguez Bro#414
Hellfish#511,MuffBro#3532,AnvilBro#9, D24868

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It is so hard to type with tears streaming down my cheeks.:(

I don't know where to start, I have lived in Tullahoma all my life and have seen canopies in the air so many times growing up. I had always wanted to skydive, in 1999 my younger brother made his first tandem at Tennessee Skydiving Center with Fast Eddie, Chris was flying N5542B for that jump. I'm sure most of you have seen the end of this jump because Patrick puked and fell over as soon as Eddie got him unhooked. I know Eddie showed it at the WFFC several times as well as lots of other places. Patrick was not hindered by this though, in Oct. of 2000 he decided to make another tandem and asked me if I would want to go. I said I would and a few weeks later I made my first skydive with Dave Nye as my tandem instructor from N5542B with pilot Chris Martin. In June of the next year Patrick and I both went through AFF at TSC, again each of our jumps was made from N5542B with Chris flying. I have since made almost 500 jumps with the majority of them at TSC.

I am now the primary video guy at TSC and I feel that I owe all of this to my dear friend Chris Martin for having such a great DZ 5 miles from my front door.

Kristi, I am truly honored that you have asked me to video Chris' memorial dive. Charity and I will continue to pray for you and the girls and be there for you anyway we can. I am amazed at the strength that I have seen in you(especially today.)

I am putting together a photo slide show to be presented at Chris' memorial and would appreciate any photos that anyone would like to contribute.

Please sent pics of Chris to [email protected]

I will also be working on a memorial video with Cowboy in the near future. Please e-mail [email protected]
if you have some footage that you would like to contribute and we can discuss how to get it to me.

I will never forget you Chris.

Jason Waller

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This is a note from the Martin family:
We know everyone is anxious and wants to know what is going on with the service. Many of you know we have been working very hard everyday to get the details. We are planning a service on Saturday, but the details have not been finalized.

Please refrain from posting anything about the service or what will be involved. Kristi and I will be posting something as soon as we have finalized the details on the service and memorial fund.



Thanks
Holly West (sister-in-law) and Kristi Martin

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I do not know chris, i do not even think i have ever talked to him on this site.
I have been reading so much on his last jump though and all i can say..is that he sound like someone who will never be forgotten and he was a lucky person to have so many people love him.

To all of you that have lost a friend or a family member here, i am sorry, but always kn ow you have lost someone that has many people looking up to him and listening to his advice.
i omly wish i was lucky enoough to meet a person everyone talk so highly about.

I am so sorry and so sad for all of you that have lost a friend or a family member or an inspiration here in the last couple of days.
I feel so sad, and i never met Chris, you all have done an amazing job at describing how much he meant to the skydiving commmunity. i am so sorry to you all!
Peace to our world.


.Karnage Krew Gear Store
.

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Chris:
I had hopes and dreams of jumping with you
You're such a great person, I packed under you at Rantoul
Never did I have an empty belly, or not a smile on my face
In your presence is always a wonderful place

You're a great example of what a man should be
Thank you for helping out someone even though he didn't see
Not only did I have fun, but you changed my life too
You made me think (what really made me happy?) through

A wonderful person deffinitely a Precision treat
That I really wish everyone was as fortunate to meet
But until that day we are all able to fly in the sky
I hope you watch over us skydiving guys*

I hope everyone ie doing well and feels his strong presence like I do. You will be forever loved, my heart goes out to everyone that was touched by you.

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I really don’t know where to start, so here’s a pix I took of Chris in McMinnville about five years ago when I had only around 100 jumps and Chris went out with me and Lyle on a 3 way.
-TIM



Tim.. wow! I can honestly say it is weird to see Chris freeflying. Ever since I've known him, every non-aff or tandem jump he has done was in his wingsuit.
Even big-ways! We would launch a 12 way out of the Westwind and about halfway thru the dive, Chris would be right there in his wingsuit. Jason has a great video of him flying around a big way.

:)

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All I can say is that I was very lucky to have met him. Having Chris in my life was and still is very special. He taught me how to fly a wingsuit. And he said I was the best student he ever had.:$

After that 1st BirdMan jump, he invited me to a 6way!!

I mean, Chris was so passionate about wingsuit flying!! He got my husband, and a couple of other locals to try the WingSuit. Some got hooked.

I never felt the need to by a suit, because he would lend me his (the white, with orange wings DEMO suit), and he would ship it next day!

He was sooooooooooo extra sweet to me (and to everybody he knew). I absolutely will miss him. I`ll miss him too much.:(

We had plans for next years` boogie (P.R.), he loved flying his BirdMan over the East coast of Puerto Rico. He made everybody know how much he loved this boogie, the Island.

Anyways, I`ll miss Chris w/ all my heart. He was (and is) very special to me. I`ll miss flying with him sooooooooo much. I`m so sad, I keep thinking this is just a nightmare, that I`ll wake up and this`ll be just a bad dream...

But I guess it isn`t, right?

So here are some pics of Chris and I, and a couple of the guys at WFFC and in P.R.
I`ll post more when I scan them.

Blue Skies, Chris!!!
You will be missed
Christie
ps My condolences to Christie and Hailey:
"Chris was very much loved in Puerto Rico. He`ll be missed"
LiquidSky
@(^_^)@


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Like many others who travel the boogie circuit as vendors, I was incredibly good friends with Chris. There is nothing better than showing up somewhere knowing your buddies are going to be there with you. Chris and I spent a LOT of time together these past few years and I am having a very hard time with this. Katie and I regularly got calls from him just to see what we were up to or to find out if we were going to be at the next stop down the boogie trail. He was a fantastic, upbeat guy and always had great stories to tell.

I found out about the accident about ten minutes after it happened and I found myself with the monumental responsibility of having to notify Kristi. As fate would have it, I was the first person notified who had the phone number. I had just got married in Key West and I have to tell you that making that call was probably the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life. I was stricken with both pain and anger that it had happened and I could only do so much to ease Kristi's pain. It was terrible. It was likewise terrible to pass the news onto Beezy Shaw. The three of us were sort of "Three Musketeers" on the road and were always the life of the party wherever we met.

Chris was a very-rounded skydiver. He was in my estimation the second-most experienced wingsuit pilot on the planet; a dropzone operator; an incredibly experienced pilot; a respected member of the gear industry.

I miss my friend.

BSBD

Chuck Blue
D-12501
Raeford Parachute Center, NC

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A memorial service has been scheduled at Tennessee Skydiving Center on Saturday November 6 at 10:00 am CT. Afterwards a reception is being held that will be potluck and BYOB. DZ attire (jeans, flip-flops, etc). ;)

In lieu of flowers please sent donations to the
Haley Martin Memorial fund or to Kristi Martin
611 Cedar Lane
Tullahoma, Tn 37388


Directions to Tennessee Skydiving Center:

From Nashville:
Take I-24 East to exit #111, then turn left off ramp onto Hwy. 55 and travel approximately 12 miles into Tullahoma. At the 2nd traffic light in Tullahoma, (Hwy. 41A) turn right and go 2 miles until you reach the Kentucky Fried Chicken on your left. Turn left at the KFC (this is the airport access road). At the fork bear to your right and then go straight until you reach the Airport Terminal building. Turn right on Airpark Dr. and drive a few hundred feet to the Skydiving Center.

From Chattanooga:
Take I-24 West to exit #117 and turn left off of the ramp toward Arnold Air Force Base. Proceed approximately 13 miles into Tullahoma. At the 1st traffic light turn left onto Hwy, 55. Proceed approximately 1/4 of a mile to the next traffic light (intersection of Hwy. 41A) and turn right onto 41A and go 2 miles to the Kentucky Fried Chicken on your left. Turn left at the KFC (this is the airport access road). At the fork bear to your right and then go straight until you reach the Airport Terminal building. Turn right on Airpark Dr. and drive a few hundred feet to the Skydiving Center.

From Huntsville, AL:
Take Hwy 231 to Fayetteville, TN, Turn right onto Hwy 64. Go just a few miles to Hwy.50 and turn right, proceeding into Lynchburg (Hwy. 50 Becomes Hwy. 55)... and continue on into Tullahoma. At the 2nd traffic light in Tullahoma, (hwy. 41A) turn left and go about 1 mile until you reach the Kentucky Fried Chicken on your left. Turn left at the KFC (this is the airport access road). At the fork bear to your right and then go straight until you reach the Airport Terminal building. Turn right on Airpark Dr. and drive a few hundred feet to the Skydiving Center.

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It pains me to say I can't make it to Tennessee to celebrate Chris's life with others who love him so much, as I'm sure there are others out there who can not travel there this weekend. Please know that there are many out there that will be sending their love and rememberences as well.

I will be making a high altitude hop and pop Saturday around sunset (weather permiting) in celebration of my friend's life. If anyone wishes to join me here or around the country, feel free.
----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

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Please pass my condolences to Kristi and the rest of the family. Chuck and I had been trying to plan a trip that way for the longest time. Chris knew we'd be instant friends because we shared the love of similar men.[:/]

Chris was like what I'd call "Boogie Family"! He always gave the warmest hugs and was very quick to share pictures and stories of his family back home. He truly loves you Kristi - never forget that.

Chuck and I remain completely numb over this tragedy. Chris will remain in our hearts forever.

Hugs.

Katie
Get your PMS glass necklace here

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