Pat and Jan Works of Fullerton, CA, will be awarded the International Skydiving Museum & Hall of Fame’s Trustees’ Award during the museum’s Skydiving Hall of Fame Celebration Event at Skydive Arizona, Eloy, Saturday evening, October 8, 2016. The award is being given to recognize the Work’s efforts on the museum’s Collections and Curatorial committee including the creation of the International Skydiving Museum WIKI site.
The Works first got involved with the International Skydiving Museum in 2012 when they were asked to assemble an exhibit on formation (AKA ‘relative work’) skydiving from the 1960s through the 1990s for the Skydiving Hall of Fame Celebration Event. They tapped their personal collection of photographs, correspondence, a home-grown newsletter they published in the 1970s, plus patches, pins and other memorabilia to create a popular display.
Shortly after the event, museum trustee, Dan Poynter, recruited Pat to join the Collections and Curatorial Committee as an advisor. He developed an inventory labeling system that will eventually link to an existing database for the purpose of cataloguing artifacts that have been donated to the museum and put in storage until a permanent warehousing solution for the collection can be settled. More recently, he created the museum’s popular online Skydiving Encyclopedia as a searchable WIKI, where others can contribute to building a comprehensive and accurate archive on the sport’s history. Jan is responsible for Editorial Oversight (reality checking) to ensure that as much as possible, visitors from around the world will find the WIKI to be THE credible resource for information on parachuting in all of its forms.
The Trustees’ Award is given at the discretion of the museum’s Board of Trustees to honor and recognize distinguished achievement of individuals or groups for their exemplary service, selfless giving and personal commitment to the goals and mission of the International Skydiving Museum. Past recipients include Linda Miller, Salt Lake City, UT, 2014, for her dedication and creative enthusiasm as a board advisor and her many contributions toward bringing the museum to reality; Tony Thacker and Kate Griesser, Raeford, NC, 2013, for their tireless efforts to honor Gene Paul Thacker and for the significant funds raised during a celebration event, and, in 2012, the first Trustees’ Award went to Pat Moorehead, Long Beach, CA, in recognition of his TEAM 80 event where he made 80 skydives to celebrate his 80th birthday and raised more than $18,000 toward the museum’s building fund.
The Works will be presented the award by the president/CEO of the museum’s Board of Trustees, James F. Curtis III, at its prestigious Hall of Fame Banquet, Saturday, October 8. The Hall of Fame Banquet is part of a weekend fundraising celebration including jump activities, a gallery stroll and visiting with friends. On Friday evening, there will be a BBQ honoring Parachutists Over Phorty Society (POPS) and its member groups, with some of the sports’ living legends sharing stories from the past.
The culmination of the weekend is the Hall of Fame Banquet presented by the Parachute Industry Association when six skydiving legends will join 42 others into the museum’s Hall of Fame. More than 300 people from around the world are expected to join in the festivities and the event is expected to bring in more than $100,000 to support building the museum.