realskiers

Well, since you asked Gary,

Yes, my father passed away 5 years ago on the day before my birthday, Sept. 24th.  He was on the ski teams at Brown and Wyoming back in the day when they packed down their own race courses by sidestepping up the mountain.  Circa 1945.  We (6 children) got skis at the age of about 4.  We're talking laced up boots and skis with green painted bottoms, not p-tex (sp?).  The edges were sectional and affixed with phillips head screws.  You just replaced a section if it got damaged.  I remember looking at his raw hands after lacing up 5 pairs of boots including his own.

He loved skiing and passed it on and we were fortunate to have season tickets for 4 years in upper NY and 4 years in Vermont.  He often took trips out west and to Europe.  He completly tore his achilles tendon in Chamonix one year and experience some fine French surgery. 

Since I was not as coordinated as one of my 4 brothers I did not make the college ski team as my brother did.  He often took trips out west and to Europe.  We had planned a trip out west after a long haitus from skiing because of children and moving to Florida that did not materialize when he developed a fast spreading kidney cancer.

We spread his ashes on his favorite ski mountain near the base of the liftline.  During the ceremony it started snowing.  The minister stopped and smiled as he saw us all grinning.  So the memory is more sweet than bitter.