Bucket list

After his wife of 75 years died in December, 94-year-old LakeLand Village resident Albert Stabler penned a bucket list that included skydiving for the first time.

Stabler had always stayed inside the plane. He took his first solo flight at age 16. He piloted his own Cessna 140. He designed and constructed a plane, Fly Baby IA, that hangs prominently in the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

"When we were flying, it was the old saying, 'Why would you jump out of a perfectly good plane?' " said his son, Richard.

Even after Richard and a granddaughter jumped from perfectly good planes, "He still said, 'Why?' " Richard said.

Yet there he was on June 14 with his three children and some of their spouses at Kapowsin Skydive in Shelton, getting prepared to plunge 14,500 feet in a tandem dive over Sanderson Field.

"My kids want me to yell, 'Geronimo!,' " Stabler said. He added, "That's not my style."

Born on Dec. 23, 1928, Stabler grew up in Springfield, Ohio, where as a child he watched biplanes fly over their farm. He started taking piloting lessons at 14. Stabler joined the Navy in 1945 and was stationed in Bremerton. That's where he met his wife at what is now Bremerton National Airport.

Stabler last piloted a plane about 1975. He's lived at LakeLand Village for 45 years.

Stabler originally planned to skydive on June 13, but high winds prompted a postponement.

So how does his family feel about his plunge?

"I think it's great," said his daughter, Wendy Kovack.

"I think it's awesome," said his daughter-in-law.

"It gets him out," said Richard.

At Kapowsin, Stabler signed documents agreeing his family wouldn't sue if he died. His children agreed to split the cost of the recording of an eight-minute video. He was informed he would be plummeting at 130 mph. He didn't display any nervousness.

Stabler received instructions from videographer Kasha Farrington ("When you're falling, look at me") and skydiver Nate Reed ("You'll sit in my lap, and I'll strap you in").

His family watched from behind a chain-link fence as Reed and Stabler were the first of three tandem teams descending to earth. They greeted him as he returned with the other divers.

"Did you hear me?" Stabler asked.

"What did you say?" asked his daughter.

"'Geronimo!' " He told them he saw their former hometown, Bremerton.

"Three seconds after we went out, it was a blast of air. I kind of thought to myself, 'What the hell am I doing here?' And then I relaxed and just enjoyed the view.

"Everyone should try it."