68-year-old sky-dives into 50th class reunion

Tag : insulation staple

TWIN FALLS, Idaho Bob Denton jogged a few loping steps and lifted his fists inexultation.

"Yeah, buddy!" The 68-year-old Nampa man whooped. "What a good day.What a good day. What a great day!"

A matter of minutes, 4,000 feet and what he estimated as 10 to 12seconds of sense-altering free fall earlier, Denton was in anairplane, readying to parachute in - literally - to his 50th highschool reunion. The threat of high winds and doubters didn't deterDenton from making his customary larger-than-life entrance as asmall group of his Kimberly High School class of 1958 classmateswaited to receive him.

"I'm going to be around for my 60th (reunion)," Denton vowed. Friday, none of his classmates were startled when Denton landed,wearing a white jumpsuit and helmet at Canyon Crest Dining andEvent Center in Twin Falls. Three decades ago, when the Kimberly alum took the vertical routeto his 20th class reunion at the old Holiday Inn off Blue LakesBoulevard North, it was downright sketchy. Without notifying any ofhis 30-some odd classmates how he planned to arrive, he donnednow-outdated gear, hired a pilot and jumped from his own plane.

Back then jumping out of planes wasn't the popular extreme sportsky-diving is now; the technology was a fraction of what it hasbecome.

"Our gear wasn't so good," Denton said. "We crash-and-burned. Wedusted ourselves off, went inside and grabbed a beer." For his 30th class reunion, he landed easily in the parking lot ofthe Turf Club on Falls Avenue. At that time, there were fewerbuildings nearby and the landing zone sprawled before him, makingfor a simpler landing. The equipment had also considerably improvedover the previous decade. By his 40th class reunion, his classmates "expected" him to fallout of the sky just as he had at previous class reunions, he said.Like cake at a wedding, a eulogy at a funeral, Bob Denton droppinginto Kimberly class reunions was the staple element, the event'ssignature moment.

But the 1998 landing was anything but clockwork outside ofDiamondfield Jack's restaurant. A matrix of charged power linesalong Blue Lakes Boulevard North threatened to zap Denton on hisdescent.

"That was close," he recalls. "That got my attention." But with no winds fluttering his parachute or jarring him offcourse, he picked a spot on the ground, passed over some lines,went around another set and circumvented electrocution. Friday, Denton's 92-year-old mother Harriett Denton and wife of 44years watched him land, along with a group of around 15 of Denton'sformer classmates.

What separates this year from previous reunions is "Bullet Bob" isno longer the young, fired-up kid he once was. He's now an old,fired-up grandfather who runs an industrial insulation company. Theitch to fly and jump out of airplanes is as strong as ever.

"I think they (my classmates) think I'm a little nuts in my oldage," Denton said. Refuting that notion, he added, "I'm justgetting started." Denton first caught the bug watching Jim McKay anchor thetelevision program, Wide World of Sports. Denton's uncle, whomanaged the Twin Falls airport from World War II to 1956, took himflying in a National Guard L-19, twirling the plane upside down anddazzling the youngster with other aeronautic feats. His uncle wenton to manage the Boise airport until 1989, Denton said. When Denton joined the Army and was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas,he thought he might get his first chance to jump out of anairplane. He learned to fly - but never had the chance to fall - ina 6-mile-wide airspace above an American base in Okinawa. Denton claims today, after braving 2,978 jumps, to be the oldestactive jumper in the Pacific Northwest. Is it exciting as it always was?

"If you don't get (pumped up), you shouldn't be doing it," he said.