Chris Bickerdike's Skydiving Artwork

[staticline85 1]

Wow what a treat! Thanks to efs4ever for pointing me to this forum. I know I'm a year and a half late on this post but the net is great for reunions.

Chris Bikerdike was my best friend when we were about 14-16 years old in Tyler, Texas. We lived next door for a while at an apartment complex and were heavy into Skateboarding and dirt bikes. He was always the dare devil and would be the first to do something for a camera. When I heard he died after coming back from another accident it sure sounded like Chris.

We made 8mm films of us crashing on skateboards etc; He tried to teach me how to cartoon but I never had any talent. I can still do a little face that he taught me after all these years. We got in some trouble when we were sophmores in HS and he moved away to El Paso. I never saw him again. Then ironcally after my second static line jump I did for my radio show, my Dad called me with the news. I never jumped again (sadly).

I heard from his sister via e-mail about nine years ago and she said the family was fine.

Thanks for the posts, I never saw Chris as an adult and I don't have any of his old drawings. I hope where ever he is he is still as insane an adventurous as we were in those summers of 75-77.

RIP...

Belated thanks to everyone.

Dale Dudley
KLBJ-Fm Radio
Austin

[zoobrothertom 5]

The most recent post about Chris finally got me off my butt to scan in some pictures of Chris. These shots are from Easter '85 at Corpus Christi Naval Air Station in Texas at the annual airshow.

In the B-25 picture, Chris is standing back right and I'm kneeling in front of him. We jumped the Silver Lady through the rear escape hatch in the floor at 13 grand. Did some RW and then put together 2 biplanes and landed them.

The Line up picture was right after a jump. Chris is back row 2nd from left and I'm front row 2nd from right.

The third one has Chris in the background lugging his gear behind us in this shot of me and my grandfather.

Airborne!!

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I'm back in the USA!!

[slotperfect 7]

WHo are the others in the lineup photo? I was at Ft. Bragg then, but I was a GB Clubber at the time. I didn't start jumping at the 82nd Club until 1989.

Arrive Safely

John

[zoobrothertom 5]

Hey John,

I remember all but one.

Back Row L>R: Pete Burnett, Chris Bickerdike, John Kincaid, Scott Thomas

Front Row L>R: Cliff Birch, ???, Tom (Whit) Garrison, Russ Anastacio.

Remember any of them?

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I'm back in the USA!!

[freakyrat 1]

I once had a skydiving T-shirt that had one of Chris's drawings on it. It was a skydiver in freefall with a gigantic padlock going through the side of his head for Brainlock. It was very funny.

[dannydan 0]

What an AMAZING thread gentlemen!!!! My age is catching up with me! RESPECT LEVEL just shot up through the roof with some salty water leaking abit! There is SO much love here men! No words can EVER express.... I salute ALL of you PIONEERS!

[usedtajump 1]

Here's a poster that I still have from 1983 when Chris was jumping at Decatur, TX. Chris was a good friend and lived on the DZ in a small hangar that he'd made into the coolest apartment. The poster was left behind in the apartment where I found it very shortly after he departed for the Army. Had an erie feeling then that I needed to grab it and hang on to it.

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=91947;

Thanks to efs4ever for uploading it to the board for me.

The older I get the less I care who I piss off.

[zoobrothertom 5]

Here's a poster that I still have from 1983 when Chris was jumping at Decatur, TX. Chris was a good friend and lived on the DZ in a small hangar that he'd made into the coolest apartment. The poster was left behind in the apartment where I found it very shortly after he departed for the Army. Had an erie feeling then that I needed to grab it and hang on to it.

----------------------------------------------
Thanks for posting the poster! I had forgotten that Chris reenlisted for the Army in '83. He did a tour, got out and came back. When I met him, it was sometime in '84 at Ft. Bragg at the 82nd parachute club. Dave Bullen, the NCOIC of the club, had told me a story over beer one night about some lucky dumbshit who disappeared behind the trees with no reserve out (streamer on a PC?). They went to look for the body and found Chris hanging from his belly mount reserve in a tree. Chris said later that the tree saved him at line stretch. A few months after this story, Chris showed up and Dave said "what do you know, that's the dumbshit I told you about!"

Chris was a great guy and always upbeat. Cheers to you Chris!

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I'm back in the USA!!

[AlanV 0]

I'd really like to thank all of you! I've been trying to find some info on Chris for the past twenty years! I was lucky enough to know Chris when he moved to El Paso for his last year in High School. We were seniors together and took some art classes together. We skateboarder all around and got into to much fun. Including working as ground crew once for a friends sky diving club in El Paso! I took him on a hike in the Franklin Mountains around El Paso and he honored me with an awesome cartoon picture of us hiking! He was always behind, but in the drawing he put himself first which got allot of attention from friends. He was a great friend back then. We had a large group of skateboarders and we all hung out together. I'm sadden to hear he is gone, but will always cherish that awesome work of his ( It looks like a certificate!) that I've had framed and on my studio or house wall for the last 22 years! All hail Chris, a great friend with a kind heart and a nose for trouble and fun!
Take care all
Alan James Vaughn

[cirrus1ag 0]

I am coming very late to the party. I was there when Chris & Todd took the downplane in. Two emergency rm docs and 3 0r 4 SF Medics were on them in seconds. It sounded like two shotgun blasts. Todd Cudnhowsky had no injuries at all and din't remember "going in". Chris was different after that, not quite the sam as before.

As for the Silver Lady, it was owned by Bill Arnot a TX oilman who was B-25 crew chief in WWII. I was prowling the flight line w/ the 82nd TM in 1984 and struck up a conversation with Bill who offered to let us jump which we, of course, did. I have agreat photo with the Silver Lady in the background. I'm surprised the Navy had us back, the 'host' a LCDR wanted to billet myself and Jim Wooden separately from the enlisted members of the Team. I told him wherever we stayed it would be together and then I explained what TEAM meant in the Army. He grunginly let us all stay in the BOQ. It was all very humorous. Chris was agood lad, I was sorry to hear of his passing. We sky dived togther quite often when he was at Bragg.

[zoobrothertom 5]

Hey Cirrus1ag,

thanks for posting. I always wondered why Bill Arnot was so eager to let us jump his plane when we visited Corpus Christi in '85. I never knew that our team had jumped it the year before as well.

Chris was definitely a 'unique' individual. I can still remember docking my canopy on him for a two stack over Raeford with him sitting on his slider! We broke off just before landing and he flared his canopy with a firm grip on his brake lines!

I learned from him how to do half a back flip in my harness and hook my ankles in the risers. Hanging belly to earth and then flipping forward as you flare was a rush!

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I'm back in the USA!!

[slotperfect 7]

There was a white Volkswagen Rabbit at Raeford last weekend with a white sticker in the window made from one of Chris' tandem drawings. I want to figure out who's car that is and where they got the sticker from.

We had a bunch of former CSS folks there that weekend so it may be one of theirs.

Arrive Safely

John

[TBickerdike 1]

All,

I'm Chris' little brother, Tony. I so glad to see his friends remember him. One of the last conversations I had with Chris was when I told him I was joining the Air Force. He called me an "Air Dummie" and he invited me down to San Antonio in two weeks time to take me on my first jump. He died a week after our conversation. I've now been in the Air Force nearly 22 yrs and think about him all the time through the eyes of my first son, Christopher. Thank you all for all the pictures and memories.

Blue Skies...

Tony Bickerdike
[email protected]

[zoobrothertom 5]

Hi Tony.

Thanks for posting! It's great to hear that Chris lives on through your son.

22 years as a zoomie! Did you ever make jump?

Take care,

Whit Garrison

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I'm back in the USA!!

[CarynCB 0]

I’m Chris Bickerdike’s sister. I stumbled upon your site when googling Chris’ name after being in contact with his best friend from high school, Dale Dudley, who posted to this thread earlier. I was, to say the least, very touched by reading all of your memories of him. For those of you who don’t know, he died on March 28, 1987 on his first solo dive following the accident that nearly killed him in June of 1986. He called me the night before to tell me that he went on a tandem jump (forgive me if I mess up the skydiving terminology- I’m not a skydiver) at a new DZ in San Antonio. He was extremely pumped about it. So much so that he wanted to do a solo the next day. I told him that I was happy for him, but that I really didn’t think it was a good idea since he was scheduled for surgery the following Monday on his left wrist and his decision-making wasn‘t quite up to snuff yet. A cold front had come in that day. Eerily, like clockwork, we have had a cold front during that week every year since. He was wearing thick gloves. The theory is that he couldn’t get his hand out of the pocket when trying to pull the rip cord on his reserve. His hand was still in the pocket when he died. Yes, he had a cast on his left arm. Keep in mind he had a pretty bad head injury from the previous accident. He was only on a weekend pass from the hospital (BAMC). He fell into a patio cover, but no, not into a living room. We learned of his death when a newspaper reporter called.

In retrospect, I truly feel he was given an extra 9 months to make things “right” in his life. He was reading the bible and asking a lot of questions about it. He started calling me almost every night just to let me know he loved me. Those are things that he almost never did prior to the first accident. And prior to that we fought like cats and dogs, like teenage brothers and sisters will. But we shared an apartment, which only exacerbated our squabbles. And he died doing what he loved: skydiving. His motto was “I’d rather have 60 seconds of wonderful than a lifetime of nothingness.” That was written in his logbook several times.

Speaking of his log book, my Dad gave it to his best friend, David Armstrong. He and David were very close. They started a skydiving school together in Tyler. I haven’t talked to David (or signed- David is deaf) for many years. He came to my Dad’s funeral last year, but we didn’t get a chance to talk. David treasured that log book. He used to come over just to thumb through it after Chris died. He really loved Chris and my Dad knew that he would get more pleasure from his logbook than we would. We have his childhood memories to treasure. David and I had originally planned to publish his drawings in some way that would be meaningful to the skydiving “community.” I do need to get in touch with him to make copies of his drawings. Any suggestions as to what to do with them? I don’t mean to make a profit. I have always thought that his drawings would mean a lot to the right people, such as yourselves. David wanted to make T-shirts.

I, and my family, miss Chris greatly. He was crazy about my daughters. They were only 2 and 3 when he died, but my oldest daughter still, 24 years later, treasures the teddy bear he gave her dressed in Army camis, embellished with Airborne insignia. Chris was an individual like no other. A little bohemian, a lot daredevil, and with a heart as big as Texas.

Caryn Bickerdike Bettes
[email protected]

[vstone 0]

caryn

I was a friend of Chris
and he will never be out of my mind
I m 64 now and when I think of him
I still smile
Thank u Chris
There are so few people
who can do that

"every one lights up a room "
"some by walking in "
"some by walking out"

Blue skies to you Chris
With chalk on your face

Stoney D4754

I also left a message on forums "blueskies"
I think u would like it
It still hurts 22 years later

vancejstone

[VMO 6]

To Tony and Caryn,

I knew Chris at Bragg in '81 when I had just started jumping. We became close friends until I went to Ft. Rucker. I kind of lost touch after that.

Chris was a lot of fun to party with and a really talented guy, but he was also a genuine, decent Human Being. And I know we would still be good friends today.

As I sit here in sunny Florida on Easter Sunday, not being able to jump because my cypress is in Germany, I thank God that people like Chris affected my life in such a positive way...

Warmest Regards,
God Speed
Dean Austin [email protected]

[skydived19006 4]

I have a couple of 3.5" disks with clip art, and I know that there is some of Chris' work on them. What I don't have is a 3.5 drive. I got the clip art from Gary Peek years ago, I'd imagine he still has access to the files.

Martin

Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else.

AC DZ

[zoobrothertom 5]

When you get them onto your hard drive, post them for us. You know Chris wouldn't mind.

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I'm back in the USA!!

[skydived19006 4]

Here's what art I found on the 3.5" disks. This stuff was put together by Gary Peek and Para Publishing back in the early 90s. Stuff was dated 1995.

The files were .pcx, so I found a converter online. The "abc 4" logo was added by the software because I used an unregistered (free) version.

Anyway, nothing very exciting, but it does look like Chirs' artwork.

Martin

Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else.

AC DZ

[zoobrothertom 5]

Definitely Chris' work. Thanks for uploading them.

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I'm back in the USA!!

[KSeago 0]

Hi all,

I'm VERY late to this thread. Chris' name came up while reminiscing with some mutual friends and curiosity led me to do a search for him. I knew he had passed, but didn't know much about the circumstances.

Chris lived across the street from me in Tyler, Texas for a year or so in the mid-1970s, let's say 1974. We went to Jr. High together, but I lost track of him shortly thereafter. We rode skateboards together and Chris was always willing to take stunts or maneuvers "one step further."

Tyler has some very steep hills and we'd skate down those hills at amazing speeds. Chris was the first person I saw lay down feet forward on a long skateboard to maximize speed potential. Today that style is called street luge. I think Chris was an unsung pioneer of the activity.

The last time I saw him must have been in the late 1970s. He was visiting Tyler and he came by my parent's house to trade skateboards. He told me he had just started skydiving and loved it.

I remember him as a talented artist, possessing a nose for adventure, a great sense of humor, and a large heart. I'm glad to see that so many remember him in the same fashion and that his siblings are doing well.

Kris S. Seago
Austin, Texas

[ssrksisson 0]

How great this is to read about the way Chris touched so many lives. I was friends with Chris when he moved to El Paso for his senior year at High School. I believe he was a year older than me and we were totally into skateboarding. A brand new skateboard park was built a few blocks from our house and we practically lived there. He was a huge Monty Python and Pink Floyd fan, before I even knew what either one was. We had a nasty skateboard accident coming down trans mountain road in El Paso. My shoulder was chewed up from the asphalt and Chris nicked named me "Sausage Man" for the resemblance of my wound. Later he drew a great smiling sausage on the bottom of my skateboard that I kept for years. Sorry to say I don't have it anymore. I am thankful to hear from Chris's sister and brother. I hung out at your house in El Paso but age and memory have gotten the best of me and I can't remember you. But this forum sure has helped me remember some great times with Chris and the smiling face that I enjoyed so much.
Thanks Chris for the memories, God Bless.

Scott Sisson
Albuquerque, New Mexico

[zoobrothertom 5]

Bump!

It's been just over 28 years since we lost Chris.

I reread his thread again today and was happy to see so many people over the years who had 'found' Chris and posted here.

Cheers my old friend. We still miss you.

Thomas 'Whit' Garrison

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I'm back in the USA!!

[dzswoop717 5]

I also think about Chris and that day quit often. We were on a CRW team together when the down plane accident happened. Our team (Toys R Us Kids), Chris, Paul Rafferty, Todd Cudski, Todd Lorenzo, and myself, were up late partying the night before. If I remember correctly, it was our first jump of the day, we all were a little hung over. Paul was missing in action that morning so we stared jumping without him. We did 4 way rotation until break off and then split into 2 biplanes then transistioned to side by sides. Todd L and I landed a side by side and Chris and Todd C. landed a down plane. I remember everyone running to where they were lying. There were plenty of military medic skydivers on the dz that day who responded instantly. Other jumpers held me back from going out to the impact area. Chris's canopy hit the ground first, the impact split every rib in his canopy between the cross ports. Chris sustaind multiple fractures and brain injury, he was unconsous for a few days in the hospital. Todd had no broken bones but was a human bruise. He was purple from head to toe. Chris was never the same after the accident, he never got back to his old wonderful self. He was a true friend, a talented artist, a party animal and a genuinely good guy. I have many fond memories of Chris, all of them good.