He had hoped to make his 300th jump this past weekend. Olen Reid Ashe III, who like his father went by his middle name "Reid," died making his 299th jump on Saturday. "He was just s good kid who enjoyed his friendships and his sports and was having a really good summer. The industrial engineering major died of massive internal and external injuries after his primary parachute malfunctioned during his third jump of the day, leaving him unable to deploy his emergency chute in time to slow his fall. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Ashe did detach the malfunctioning chute and released the reserve one less than 200 feet from the ground, not high enough to avoid crashing into the ground. He had leaped in tandem at 14,000 feet from a Twin Otter propeller plane. His lost came more than a year after he lost a friend in a skydiving related tragedy, his parents said. In addition to his parents, Ashe leaves behind a younger brother, David.
∼Olen Reid "Reid" Ashe III, 23, died Saturday, July 26, 2008, in a sport parachute accident outside Atlanta, Ga., where he was an industrial engineering student at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He was a native of Miami, Fla., and grew up in Wichita, Kan., and Tampa, Fla. He attended Wichita Collegiate School and in Tampa, St. Mary's School and Berkeley Preparatory School. He moved to Richmond with his family in 2001 and enrolled in The Collegiate School, where he graduated in 2004.
At Collegiate, he was on the swim team and active in theater. He also enjoyed indoor wall-climbing.
He was a Boy Scout in Tampa and spent most summers at the Raleigh, N.C., YMCA's Camp Sea Gull in eastern North Carolina.
Reid enjoyed all sorts of water sports, especially sailing, sking, wakeboarding and scuba diving. He took up skydiving after enrolling in college and joined a team that performed formation maneuvers in flight. He came one short of his 300th jump on Saturday.
Wherever he lived, Reid enjoyed strong friendships. He pursued his interests with passion and shared it with those around him.
Reid had a difficult time in the spring of 2007, when a friend's accidental death left him distraught. At the same time, he was broadening his career interest from an earlier focus on mechanical engineering. Following advice that one of the best ways to find yourself is through service to others, he sought opportunities with the Atlanta YMCA.
He became a counselor at the Atlanta's Cherokee Outdoor YMCA, where he taught climbing. After a happy experience last summer, he returned this year, delighting in his work and in the friends he made. Some of his Georgia Tech friends joined him there on the staff.
Reid found a part of himself that he didn't know a pleasure in working with children and teaching skills. Conspicuously, it gave him a new sense of purpose and pleasure in life.
Reid leaves his parents, Lisa Frye Ashe and Olen Reid "Reid" Ashe Jr., of Richmond; a younger brother, David, who's a student at the College of Charleston; a grandmother, Imogene H. Frye, of Galax, Va.; and aunts and uncles, Debbie and John Adams, of Galax, and Julie Frye and Doug Borwick, of Winston-Salem, N.C.
Friends and family will gather to remember him at 11 a.m. Saturday, August 2, 2008, at the Richmond YMCA's Camp Thunderbird Outdoor Center, 9300 Shawondasse Road, Chesterfield, Va. The family requests no flowers, instead, memorial donations are suggested to the YMCA of Greater Richmond or the YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta.
Published in the Roanoke Times on 7/30/2008
∼Olen Reid "Reid" Ashe III, 23, died Saturday, July 26, 2008, in a sport parachute accident outside Atlanta, Ga., where he was an industrial engineering student at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He was a native of Miami, Fla., and grew up in Wichita, Kan., and Tampa, Fla. He attended Wichita Collegiate School and in Tampa, St. Mary's School and Berkeley Preparatory School. He moved to Richmond with his family in 2001 and enrolled in The Collegiate School, where he graduated in 2004.
At Collegiate, he was on the swim team and active in theater. He also enjoyed indoor wall-climbing.
He was a Boy Scout in Tampa and spent most summers at the Raleigh, N.C., YMCA's Camp Sea Gull in eastern North Carolina.
Reid enjoyed all sorts of water sports, especially sailing, sking, wakeboarding and scuba diving. He took up skydiving after enrolling in college and joined a team that performed formation maneuvers in flight. He came one short of his 300th jump on Saturday.
Wherever he lived, Reid enjoyed strong friendships. He pursued his interests with passion and shared it with those around him.
Reid had a difficult time in the spring of 2007, when a friend's accidental death left him distraught. At the same time, he was broadening his career interest from an earlier focus on mechanical engineering. Following advice that one of the best ways to find yourself is through service to others, he sought opportunities with the Atlanta YMCA.
He became a counselor at the Atlanta's Cherokee Outdoor YMCA, where he taught climbing. After a happy experience last summer, he returned this year, delighting in his work and in the friends he made. Some of his Georgia Tech friends joined him there on the staff.
Reid found a part of himself that he didn't know a pleasure in working with children and teaching skills. Conspicuously, it gave him a new sense of purpose and pleasure in life.
Reid leaves his parents, Lisa Frye Ashe and Olen Reid "Reid" Ashe Jr., of Richmond; a younger brother, David, who's a student at the College of Charleston; a grandmother, Imogene H. Frye, of Galax, Va.; and aunts and uncles, Debbie and John Adams, of Galax, and Julie Frye and Doug Borwick, of Winston-Salem, N.C.
Friends and family will gather to remember him at 11 a.m. Saturday, August 2, 2008, at the Richmond YMCA's Camp Thunderbird Outdoor Center, 9300 Shawondasse Road, Chesterfield, Va. The family requests no flowers, instead, memorial donations are suggested to the YMCA of Greater Richmond or the YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta.
Published in the Roanoke Times on 7/30/2008
He had hoped to make his 300th jump this past weekend. Olen Reid Ashe III, who like his father went by his middle name "Reid," died making his 299th jump on Saturday. "He was just s good kid who enjoyed his friendships and his sports and was having a really good summer. The industrial engineering major died of massive internal and external injuries after his primary parachute malfunctioned during his third jump of the day, leaving him unable to deploy his emergency chute in time to slow his fall. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Ashe did detach the malfunctioning chute and released the reserve one less than 200 feet from the ground, not high enough to avoid crashing into the ground. He had leaped in tandem at 14,000 feet from a Twin Otter propeller plane. His lost came more than a year after he lost a friend in a skydiving related tragedy, his parents said. In addition to his parents, Ashe leaves behind a younger brother, David.
∼Olen Reid "Reid" Ashe III, 23, died Saturday, July 26, 2008, in a sport parachute accident outside Atlanta, Ga., where he was an industrial engineering student at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He was a native of Miami, Fla., and grew up in Wichita, Kan., and Tampa, Fla. He attended Wichita Collegiate School and in Tampa, St. Mary's School and Berkeley Preparatory School. He moved to Richmond with his family in 2001 and enrolled in The Collegiate School, where he graduated in 2004.
At Collegiate, he was on the swim team and active in theater. He also enjoyed indoor wall-climbing.
He was a Boy Scout in Tampa and spent most summers at the Raleigh, N.C., YMCA's Camp Sea Gull in eastern North Carolina.
Reid enjoyed all sorts of water sports, especially sailing, sking, wakeboarding and scuba diving. He took up skydiving after enrolling in college and joined a team that performed formation maneuvers in flight. He came one short of his 300th jump on Saturday.
Wherever he lived, Reid enjoyed strong friendships. He pursued his interests with passion and shared it with those around him.
Reid had a difficult time in the spring of 2007, when a friend's accidental death left him distraught. At the same time, he was broadening his career interest from an earlier focus on mechanical engineering. Following advice that one of the best ways to find yourself is through service to others, he sought opportunities with the Atlanta YMCA.
He became a counselor at the Atlanta's Cherokee Outdoor YMCA, where he taught climbing. After a happy experience last summer, he returned this year, delighting in his work and in the friends he made. Some of his Georgia Tech friends joined him there on the staff.
Reid found a part of himself that he didn't know a pleasure in working with children and teaching skills. Conspicuously, it gave him a new sense of purpose and pleasure in life.
Reid leaves his parents, Lisa Frye Ashe and Olen Reid "Reid" Ashe Jr., of Richmond; a younger brother, David, who's a student at the College of Charleston; a grandmother, Imogene H. Frye, of Galax, Va.; and aunts and uncles, Debbie and John Adams, of Galax, and Julie Frye and Doug Borwick, of Winston-Salem, N.C.
Friends and family will gather to remember him at 11 a.m. Saturday, August 2, 2008, at the Richmond YMCA's Camp Thunderbird Outdoor Center, 9300 Shawondasse Road, Chesterfield, Va. The family requests no flowers, instead, memorial donations are suggested to the YMCA of Greater Richmond or the YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta.
Published in the Roanoke Times on 7/30/2008
∼Olen Reid "Reid" Ashe III, 23, died Saturday, July 26, 2008, in a sport parachute accident outside Atlanta, Ga., where he was an industrial engineering student at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He was a native of Miami, Fla., and grew up in Wichita, Kan., and Tampa, Fla. He attended Wichita Collegiate School and in Tampa, St. Mary's School and Berkeley Preparatory School. He moved to Richmond with his family in 2001 and enrolled in The Collegiate School, where he graduated in 2004.
At Collegiate, he was on the swim team and active in theater. He also enjoyed indoor wall-climbing.
He was a Boy Scout in Tampa and spent most summers at the Raleigh, N.C., YMCA's Camp Sea Gull in eastern North Carolina.
Reid enjoyed all sorts of water sports, especially sailing, sking, wakeboarding and scuba diving. He took up skydiving after enrolling in college and joined a team that performed formation maneuvers in flight. He came one short of his 300th jump on Saturday.
Wherever he lived, Reid enjoyed strong friendships. He pursued his interests with passion and shared it with those around him.
Reid had a difficult time in the spring of 2007, when a friend's accidental death left him distraught. At the same time, he was broadening his career interest from an earlier focus on mechanical engineering. Following advice that one of the best ways to find yourself is through service to others, he sought opportunities with the Atlanta YMCA.
He became a counselor at the Atlanta's Cherokee Outdoor YMCA, where he taught climbing. After a happy experience last summer, he returned this year, delighting in his work and in the friends he made. Some of his Georgia Tech friends joined him there on the staff.
Reid found a part of himself that he didn't know a pleasure in working with children and teaching skills. Conspicuously, it gave him a new sense of purpose and pleasure in life.
Reid leaves his parents, Lisa Frye Ashe and Olen Reid "Reid" Ashe Jr., of Richmond; a younger brother, David, who's a student at the College of Charleston; a grandmother, Imogene H. Frye, of Galax, Va.; and aunts and uncles, Debbie and John Adams, of Galax, and Julie Frye and Doug Borwick, of Winston-Salem, N.C.
Friends and family will gather to remember him at 11 a.m. Saturday, August 2, 2008, at the Richmond YMCA's Camp Thunderbird Outdoor Center, 9300 Shawondasse Road, Chesterfield, Va. The family requests no flowers, instead, memorial donations are suggested to the YMCA of Greater Richmond or the YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta.
Published in the Roanoke Times on 7/30/2008
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