I am saddened by the loss of my friend and fellow modeler Jerry Olsen who passed away last Wednesday in a drowning accident that took is life while on vacation to southern Mexico.Jerry and all us retires flew together three times a week for years. Jerry just retired last year in April. He used to pick me up  to go flying and we soon became good friends. I helped him as much as I could and he helped me. He was a slow learner but once he mastered the outside loop and inverted flight he became a very fast learner. and was proud of his accomplishments as a flyer .
I will always remember him as a man of kindness and he always put his family ahead of everything. He also had a great cense of humor. I will always remember him as my friend. Good by my friend and I will always miss you.
  My prayers go out to his family and let the healing begin.

Jerry took over two years to get to the point where he could fly inverted.  Nearly every time he went inverted or flew outside loops, he'd crash a plane.

He just kept at it, crashing and repairing and crashing and rebuilding, until he could manage inverted flight.

Last year he finally stopped crashing nearly every flight.  This year he was flying Beginner and getting good enough that people were using the word "intermediate" in conversations with him.

Through all of this he maintained a positive and helpful attitude -- at the Fireballs' spring meet, when Gene Pape cut a finger in the combat circle and needed to go to the emergency room, Jerry took him even though it meant giving up his chance to fly in the contest -- he ended up flying one official flight because we were delayed by weather, and because as soon as we saw his car we stopped putting away the paraphernalia and got him out and ready to fly.

I'm going to miss Jerry.  I'm going to miss his sense of humor, I'm going to miss his stories of using his position as a near-retiree to torture his bosses at the Post Office, I'm going to miss having him in the background, pitching in to help with whatever task is going begging.  I think that every time I hit a plateau in my own development as a stunt pilot, I'm going to think about Jerry being stuck for over two years trying to master flying wheels up, and I'm going to put my head down and plow through, no matter how long it takes.

Good bye, Jerry, and I wish you all the best.

For what it's worth...my condolences to you all that knew him, and a prayer said for his family.

Leo..

I too was crushed when I learned that Jerry had passed.  My last flying session @ Delta Park, we pitted for each other, talked laughed and had the usual great time. While he was flying I mentioned to Richard that when we 1st met- I was a bit better flier than Jerry, but we were pretty equal in crashing and repair, but now he has left me behind still crashing on inverted parts of the beginner pattern.and he was ready for Intermediate. He made great strides in his flying, and did it with a smile on his face and a helping hand for all.

I miss him already, and wish I could be there this Saturday to remember him with the rest of the club, he will live on in our hearts and in our flying, Rest Easy Jerry......

Leo and the rest of the Fireballs - I will see you next week....