In loving memory to Jason Fitzsimmons
Ride Like The Wind                                      April 30, 1978 - August 23, 2002

Memorial Speech given by Christine:
I went on the internet last night looking for a skydiver’s prayer. The one I found I shouldn’t repeat in front of children. I did find a list of “you know you’re a skydiver when” statements and a few reminded me of Jason. You know you’re a skydiver when

• On a cloudy and windy day you go to the drop zone anyway and bitch about the weather.
• You walk everywhere watching the sky.
• When you buy anything you equate it to how many skydives it will cost.
• Buying a house seems like a terrible waste of jump money.

Anyone who knew Jason knew his passion for skydiving, his interest in computers and how much he loved his family and friends. He always tried to get his friends to experience the thrill and joy he felt skydiving.

I was lucky enough to come here with Jason a couple of months ago and experience the thrill. I was nervous and was asking a million questions usually starting with, “I know this is a stupid question”. He finally told me the story of his first jump. He said he realized he would be falling through the clouds so he asked his instructor if it was safe to breath cloud. “So see”, he said, “Your questions aren’t so silly”. I didn’t feel so bad about my questions after that.

Jason was great at putting people at ease with his great sense of humor. His self-assurance, can do attitude, kindness and sense of adventure made you feel lucky to know him and even luckier to be able to call him friend. His friends got to know him while playing golf, frisbee golf, watching movies and hanging out at Lonnegan’s. He considered his fellow skydivers his brothers in the sky.

We all feel the void of not having Jason here. Our minds tell us he died doing what he loved and he lived life to the fullest. There is comfort in that. However, our hearts ache knowing the wonderful person who inspired our sense of wonder and adventure is not with us. He even had us looking at the sky thinking, “I’ll bet Jason wishes he was jumping today, rather than at work with us.” Because of Jason the sky holds a different meaning and fascination for us now.

We are all blessed to have known Jason. I found a quote that says, “Don’t cry because it is over, smile because it happened.” That is how I feel about Jason's frienship. Glad it happened.