The memorial service for Bill Priday, held yesterday at the old firehouse in Mechanicsville, VA, was a powerful and moving tribute to a great guy. When Holly and I arrived at 1pm, we were blown away by the number of people there---well over 200! It was remarkable to see what a wide circle of influence Bill had---he had a powerful, positive impact on so many people.
Dozens of pilots, musicians, coworkers, family, and friends of Bill packed the firehouse as Blue Sky pilot (and Bill's best friend) Nick Martina began the celebration of Bill's life with moving recollections of good times together. Nick was followed by Bill's three children, a coworker and his boss from Philip Morris, some musical friends, and a few pilots including Jim Carrigan, myself, and Rance Rupp.
Though a celebration of Bill's life, the tributes were gutwrenching, and there was no shortage of tears from everyone.
The firehouse was decorated with memorabilia from Bill's life: his guitar, his RC planes, photo montages of Bill and friends, family photo albums of his childhood, and a few poster-sized photos of Bill in his hang glider. Tex Forrest printed up dozens of small posters of Bill's grinning face superimposed on a colorful, tie-dyed background---these were taped on the walls all around the room. He also printed color sticker "buttons" with the same image and the words "Miss you Bill!" which were handed out as people entered. It gave the day a bittersweet wackiness that Bill would love. Dress was casual, with many people in tie-dyed t-shirts and shorts.
After the tributes to Bill and a moment of silence, everyone adjourned to dig into the huge quantities of food set up in the next room. Several of Bill's coworkers and band mates set up with guitars, bass, and drums, and proceeded to have a great "guitar circle" jam, playing many of Bill's favorite tunes.
As things wound down around 5pm, everyone agreed it was exactly the kind of memorial that Bill would have wanted.
After cleaning up, many of us pilots headed up the road to Blue Sky, stopping for beer on the way, and had a relaxing few hours around a roaring fire. It was a tough day, but a cathartic one.
We'll all miss Bill terribly.
Scott
A Celebration of Bill Priday's Life
Moderator: CHGPA BOD
Bill memorial
Scott;
Thank you for posting your impressions of the memorial service. It is greatly appreciated by those of us who could not be there. -Linda
Thank you for posting your impressions of the memorial service. It is greatly appreciated by those of us who could not be there. -Linda
I just had another recollection from the memorial that I think folks will appreciate. During his opening remarks, Nick Martina (a Blue Sky HG pilot and Bill's best friend) described how he and Bill first discovered hang gliding (Nick, my apologies for the paraphrasing)...
"One day we went up on top of a mountain near Woodstock, Virginia. There was a fire tower up there you could climb, and while on top, admiring the beautiful view, we saw some hikers coming up a trail from the road with really strange backpacks---about 18-foot-long, skinny backpacks. Curious, we kept watching.
We knew these guys weren't experienced campers, because they began setting up their tents on the steepest part of the slope! Of course, we soon realized those weren't tents, but hang gliders. As we watched them launch, it was one of the most amazing things we'd ever seen. We thought, 'We've got to learn how to do that!'."
Scott
"One day we went up on top of a mountain near Woodstock, Virginia. There was a fire tower up there you could climb, and while on top, admiring the beautiful view, we saw some hikers coming up a trail from the road with really strange backpacks---about 18-foot-long, skinny backpacks. Curious, we kept watching.
We knew these guys weren't experienced campers, because they began setting up their tents on the steepest part of the slope! Of course, we soon realized those weren't tents, but hang gliders. As we watched them launch, it was one of the most amazing things we'd ever seen. We thought, 'We've got to learn how to do that!'."
Scott