sky1dive

Andy,

If you read my post from last week you will know I met your brother in 1996 and enjoyed many good times skydiving with him.

Unfortunately, we have some things in common. You have lost your bother and father in recent years as I have lost my younger sister and my mother. Times like these you are going through now can seem unbearable, but being strong for yourself and your family will pull you through.

I am very sorry to hear of Josh's passing.

Best Regards,

Brian Giboney

I knew Josh personally as we met in 1996 at SPC and probably enjoyed 75-100 jumps with him over the course of three years.

While Josh loved a good debate, so much so he would take an opposite stance just to get the juices flowing, he also would stick up for people like I have never seen before. Not only would he stick up for other people, he had a competitive side to stand up for what he believed in....ever hear any of his road rage stories?
Josh had a unique brand of thinking that was all to himself. That uniqueness allowed him to enjoy skydiving in so many different lights, angles, and degrees. He never wanted to be just a bellyflyer or a freeflyer as he felt one alone would be too limiting. He wanted to be both and was.

Last night I spoke at length with another old school jumper from SPC who has known Josh for 12 years and it was interesting to talk about Josh and tell some stories of SPC in the 90's. Sometimes we don't appreciate the happiest times of our lives while we are living them.

My best Josh story is the day we made jumps for a local TV station. I had arranged a day w/ the DZO, but needed to fly with another jumper who also had a digital camera so the station could have double video on each jump. There were only three of us with digitals who freeflied back then. Whomever should up first would be offered the part. I got there early and Josh was second to show. I asked Josh what his jump plans were for the day. "No plans." I aksed, "How about a day of free fun jumping?" His eyes lit up and he had the biggest smile. I gave him the shirt we needed wear for the station and his eyes and smile got even bigger. We ended up making 6 great jumps together that day and enjoyed reviewing our videos over some Corona's that night. The TV station loved our work, sent out a sports anchor, and that production was shown on Fox Sports over 50 times.

Josh - I am going to enjoy remembering our jumps together for years to come. Thanks for being you and sharing your skydiving knowledge with others. You helped a large number of people become better skydivers - thank you!

Brian Giboney