Don Yahrling Memorial this weekend in Deland

[skymama 35]

*BUMP* to remind all of those interested that Don's Memorial is this weekend.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[freefalle 0]

Saturday at 1600 hrs. isn't it?

[RhondaLea 3]

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Saturday at 1600 hrs. isn't it?

I'd appreciate it if someone could confirm that. I'm planning to walk on over when it's time.

rl

If you don't know where you're going, you should know where you came from. Gullah Proverb

[skymama 35]

Tim W. told me 4:00. He's usually involved in all of these types of things.

I'll be there shortly.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[RhondaLea 3]

Quote

I'll be there shortly.

Thanks, Andrea. I'll look for you.

rl

If you don't know where you're going, you should know where you came from. Gullah Proverb

[sid 1]

Bye Don

Pete Draper,

Just because my life plan is written on the back of a Hooter's Napkin, it's still a life plan.... right?

[sid 1]

I have posted some of the shots that Marat took at the Memorial here http://sidsrigging.com/galleries/don_gallery/index.htm

I'll leave them up for a while........

Pete Draper,

Just because my life plan is written on the back of a Hooter's Napkin, it's still a life plan.... right?

[flyangel2 2]

Can you list the people on the ash dive? Or on the ground photo? It's kind of small for me to make out people.

Thanks.

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[LouDiamond 1]

Thanks for posting those Sid.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[sid 1]

Quote

Can you list the people on the ash dive? Or on the ground photo? It's kind of small for me to make out people.

Thanks.

I'll do my best, but I may have some name spellings wrong

Back row, (left to right as you look at the pic)
Steve Baker, Al Mastin, Ron Clayton, Ella Bollum, Mike Luttrell, Nancy LaRiviere, MadDog, Kelly Middleton, Rusty Trapp, Jim Mowrey, Harry Collins

Front Row,
Cliff Alfiche, Pablo Perazzoli, Tim Webb, Mike Johnston , Bob Holler, Cheryl Kenlin, Scott Miller, Marat, Don Krueger, Frank Carreras

Pete Draper,

Just because my life plan is written on the back of a Hooter's Napkin, it's still a life plan.... right?

[kimgriffin 0]

I couldn't make it to the DZ last Sat. Thank you very much for the pictues. Man, it's still unreal that he's gone. Well, just gone from here for now.

[Doogie320 0]

Nice to see my old unit was there for Don's service even if I couldn't be.

Thank you for posting those, Sid.

BSBD,

[sid 1]

it was good to see the depth of Don's influence at his memorial. The military did a great job, and at least one person in the circle commented on how many skydiving lives Don touched. If you did AFF (either as a student or an instructor) Don was almost certainly involved in your training, your instructor's training or the training of your instructor's instructor.

He'll be missed for sure, and a huge thanks to Marat for letting me use the pics.

Pete Draper,

Just because my life plan is written on the back of a Hooter's Napkin, it's still a life plan.... right?

[skr 1]

Aahhhhhh .. The old ones are fading fast.

I was out of the country and away from dropzone.com
when I heard about this, so I guess there's nothing to
do for it now but tell a jump story ..

I met Don in 1976, he found me sleeping in his bed.

I happened to be in Fort Bragg for a few weeks as
a civilian consultant.

You could tell I was a civilian because I had long
red hair and a great big red beard and my clothes
were kind of rainbow colored instead of olive drab.

To the army guys I probably looked like something
out of a Hollywood viking movie.

It was unclear where I was supposed to be staying
but after while one of the Golden Knights, Al Navarro,
said hey one of the guys where I live is out in the field
for a couple weeks and you can stay in his room.

So OK, as a jumper I had slept in a lot of unlikely
places already and anyway, I was more focused
on what I was doing there than the logistics and
accomodations.


And of course he came home a few days early.

I'm a little hazy about exactly what happened, it was
the middle of the night and we, the people I was
working with, may have had a few beers earlier
to help us debrief and plan for the next day.

But he didn't kill me, and we'd laugh about it when
we'd cross paths over the years.


He may have had a few sharp corners in his personality,
I have a short fuse myself with some of the stuff I see
people doing, but he was a good guy.

He cared about people and he cared about jumping.

Skr

[steve1 5]

Skratch,
Good to hear from you again....Steve1

[allenfperos 0]

I remember Don well. He was and always will be one of the most wonderful men in skydiving I've known. I had problems with stability in Palatka when on static line in 1983. He recommended AFF. Did it, no problem thereafter. He reached me psychologically, explained technically, calmed me down.

We did 8 ways out of two Cessna 182's many times. Got my SCR and SCS because of Don. I remember he could track like a bandit if I ever did see one!

"Man Small, Why Fall, Skies Call, That's All"