Linda (Chandler) Miller will be honored with the 2014 Skydiving Museum & Hall of Fame Board of Trustees' Award for Distinguished Service, “for her dedication and creative enthusiasm as a board advisor and her many contributions towards bringing the museum to reality.” Miller will receive the award during the museum’s fundraising weekend celebration at Skydive Raeford, North Carolina, October 9 – 12th.
Miller made her first jump in 1968 in Lakeside, CA. In 1973, she moved to Raeford, NC, to hone her skills in the classic skydiving events of style and accuracy. She met her goals by earning a slot on the 1974 US Style & Accuracy Team that competed in Szolnok, Hungary. For almost a decade, she has served as an advisor to the Skydiving Museum & Hall of Fame’s board of trustees and has been the catalyst and enthusiasm for many projects since then. As Board of Trustees President & CEO, James F. (Curt) Curtis III, puts it, “when discussing skydiving museum projects, Linda Miller is right there! Her total dedication – time, effort, talent, enthusiasm, participation, out-of-pocket expense, etc. – have been rock solid.”
The Trustees' Award is given at the discretion of the Board of Trustees to thank special friends of the museum for voluntarily contributing services or making other gestures of goodwill to the skydiving museum in furtherance of its principles and objectives. The trustees awarded the first statuette—a beveled and elongated 13-inch-tall Lucite crystal sail mounted on a square, black granite base—to Pat Moorehead of 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.” Last year, the board showed its appreciation to Tony Thacker and Kate Griesser of Raeford, NC, “for their tireless efforts to honor Gene Paul Thacker (an original member of the NSM board) and for the significant funds raised.”
The trustees' award is presented during the museum’s prestigious Hall of Fame Dinner. The dinner is expected to attract more than 300 guests from around the world, all who come to watch the sport’s legends claim their well-deserved spot in skydiving history. Miller will be presented her award by President Curtis.
The Hall of Fame dinner is part of a weekend fundraising celebration with activities starting Thursday evening (October 9th) that includes an early-bird reception, a museum exhibit, scavenger hunt, fun jumps, 4-way scrambles and an online auction. On Friday evening, there will be a BBQ honoring the US Army Parachute Team, the Golden Knights. The highlight of the weekend is the induction banquet.
The fundraiser, expected to raise more than $75,000, will benefit the Skydiving Museum & Hall of Fame’s efforts to raise the necessary funds to build the museum.