Sandy Wambach
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Sandy will be greatly missed at Skydive the Point as well as around the country. She had an amazing energy level and worked at helping skydivers improve their skills regardless of their experience level. Sandy was killed on July 19, 1998 during the 300-Way world record attempts at Skydive Chicago. She was knocked unconscious in a freefall collision and never opened her parachute. She had a helmet and chose not to wear an AAD. |
Funeral Service:
NOTE: This is a description of Sandy's service July 23, 1998 by JJ Johnson.
Sandy was laid to rest yesterday afternoon in a family plot in the Virginia countryside,
adjacent to the small church where she was baptized as a child. Before the funeral, small
white clouds decorated a light blue Virginia sky as cars from New York, Pennsylvania,
Maryland, Florida and beyond poured into the old redbrick church's parking lot. Soon, the
lot was full and church directors were guiding cars behind the church, beside a playground
or where ever there was an empty patch of ground. Before long....there was no empty
ground....only a sea of people coming to say goodbye. The service was brief...just a
little over 30 minutes. During that time Sandy was remembered as a lover of life and woman
of tremendous energy. Guests filled the church to capacity, overflow watched and listened
to the service in several adjacent rooms via closed circuit television. Following the
service, the family laid Sandy's beautiful yet simple wooden coffin to rest in a private
ceremony, while guests waited inside, remembering Sandy with a display of photographs. The
photo's ranged from her early childhood, high school cheerleading and her wedding to Brad,
up to recent photos of her with her family and skydiving friends. The photos of Sandy's
body coming home from Chicago were also displayed...right next to a photo or her and
Hannah playing, and a small painting of Jesus. Soon people began to trickle out of the
church's front door. Most watched from afar as little Hannah stood amid the sea of flowers
adorning her mother's gravesite....arranging them just so....picking out the pussy willows
and giving them to the other children to play with. I listened to her try to explain to a
younger child that, "My mom was killed and now she's buried under all these
flowers." She said it so matter-of-factly that I'm not sure if it has sunk in yet. I
asked Hannah if she would pick out a one of her mother's flowers to send back to Chicago
for the people who couldn't come....by the time you read this, the pink and white
carnation should be there. By 4pm, we could hear thunder in the far off distance....and
skies to the south were growing dark. The small white clouds that greeted us when we went
into the church, had stretched skyward to the upper limits of the atmosphere. As friends
hugged their good-byes and vowed to stop meeting like this, a tired Cessna 182 jump plane
came in low out of the blackening sky, and dipped a wing to Sandy's final home.
JJ Johnson D-18218
West Point, VA
The address of the church is: Oak Grove Baptist Church, 691 Princess Anne Road,
Virginia Beach, VA.
Memorial Jumps-This is a links page for descriptions and photos of Sandy's memorial jumps. It will be updated as more reports are sent in and photos are received in the mail.
REGISTER-Please use this Registration Page to let us know information about you and the jump you participated in.
Memorial Fund: A trust fund has been established for Brad and Sandy Wambach's daughter Hannah. If you would like to make a contribution the check should be made payable to:
Paine Webber
P.O. Box 430
Richmond, VA 23218-0430
In the Memo line at the bottom of your check you must write "Account of Hannah Wambach account number AP79448-YP" or Paine Webber will not know what to do with the check.
Thank you for contributing.
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