The 90's

Contributed by Carol Clay

This is from summer 1992  with Michael Gelardi getting stepped on by a group of beautiful women. From left to right are: Becky Smith, Melissa Wirt, Joanna Smith, Jane Marchant, Sandy Wambach, Carol Clay, Judy Augustine, Robbie Conner, and Ruth Sondheimer. Sadly the '90's have proven to be a trying decade for the Peninsula Skydivers and after decades of good fortune and good times we suffered through several tragic events. The loss of Jane in a private plane crash with her husband, Ruth in the September 10, 1995 Queen Air crash that killed all 11 on board and 1 on the ground, then Sandy was killed in a July 18, 1998 freefall collision during the World Record attempts at Skydive Chicago and finally Bill Kenny, who was killed on November 14, 1998 after a total malfunction on his main at Skydive Orange.  But we continue on as Skydive The Point and carry the memories and stories of all those great people with us.

The 90's became the first time a separate skydiving school was developed for training students. In 1991 Dave Ropp and Ruth Sondheimer began Skydive Westpoint, Inc. and began training students in a separate trailer from the old club house. Their school continued to grow and increase in business over the next four years until both Dave and Ruth were killed in the 1995 Queen Air plane crash. After a few months, the school started up again with new owners Benny and Terrie Sherman, who renamed the school Westpoint Skydiving Center. They owned the school for four years before selling the school to Jim Crouch in April, 2000 and the school was renamed to West Point Skydiving Adventures.    

1993 with the Queen Air parked in the front yard.

Celeste Williams and Judy Augustine(Now Girard) with then Governer Wilder, who had flown in to West Point to go somewhere. We couldn't talk him into a jump while he was there.

Brad and Hannah Wambach

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