Good Friend Gone

[seajaycecil@yahoo.com]

I would like to take this opportunity to inform everyone that we have lost a member of FMCA. His name was Bill Vogel of Upper Lake, California.

Bill was an avid hang glider pilot. He had won a wall full of trophies and various championships in and around California. He and Cathy were good friends we met on a caravan in 07. They were lots of fun and easy to be friends with. In 08 we went by to spend about a week on the ''back patch'' on their property up in the Sierra Mountains. We had planned to meet them in Vegas in October for an AARP convention and then go roaming around for a time and just do pretty much nothing and do it well like Wayne the Marine. This was not to be as Bill was killed in a hang gliding accident on the 19th of September. We were about 1200 miles away and we drove on to California to help Cathy with what ever we could do. We lost a good friend and I was master of ceremonies at his ''Bills Celebration of Life'' ceremony. It was well attended by his friends and lots of his hang gliding buddies. Three days after his death I wrote a poem in his honor and I would like to post it now. It is all ''capps'' but I needed to write it that way for easy reading at his ceremony ...

WHERE EAGLES TOUCH THE SKY

WHERE EAGLES DARE ... I’VE WATCHED MEN GO

TO FLY THEIR KITES AND FEEL THE GLOW

OF WIND AND SUN AND CLEAR BLUE SKY

AND WATCH AN EAGLE PASSING BY.

ELK MOUNTAIN IS THE PLACE THEY GO UPON A RIDGE SO TALL

I STOOD AND WATCHED AS THEY PREPARED, AFRAID THAT I MIGHT FALL.

THEY BUILD THEIR KITES AND SETTLE BACK AND WATCH THE WIND GO BY

THEY JUDGE THE WIND, THEY SAT AND TALKED, THEY EVEN WATCHED THE SKY

THEY WATCHED THE RIBBONS ON THE FACE AND JUDGED THE WIND AS IT DID RACE UP MOUNTAIN SLOPE AND PASSING BY

THEY WATCH THE EAGLES IN THE SKY.

THE WIND IS RIGHT, TIS TIME TO GO INTO THE FRAGILE KITES BELOW

AND EACH IN TURN WILL STEP AND FLY

LIKE EAGLES THEY WOULD TOUCH THE SKY.

WHILE ON THE GROUND I STAND IN FEAR AND WATCH THEM AS THEY DISAPPEAR IN THERMALS WITH UPLIFT AND GRACE,

I WATCH THEM DISAPPEAR IN SPACE.

THE RADIO IT CRACKLED LOUD AS THESE BRAVE FEW DANCED IN THE CLOUD

"I’VE GOT GOOD LIFT. COME! FLY TO ME"

THEY TOUCHED THE SKY AND THEY WERE FREE

ON MOUNTAINTOP I STAND IN AWE AND WATCH BRAVE MEN IN FLIGHT

THEY DANCE AND DIVE AND CIRCLE ROUND,

DO THINGS I WISH I MIGHT.

"HOP IN THE TRUCK, ITS TIME TO GO

FOR THEY ARE HEADING DOWN BELOW

AND WE MUST GO STRAIGHT TO OUR PLACE."

SO DOWN THE MOUNTAIN WE DID RACE.

THE RADIO IT CRACKLES LOUD, "YOU’RE GONNA BUMP INTO A CLOUD" AND LAUGHTER FILTERS FROM THE SKY,

ABOVE OUR HEADS THEY DANCE AND FLY.

THEY DANCE THE DANCE OF FREEDOM SKY AND WE WILL NEVER KNOW

THE FEEL OF FREEDOM IN THE SKY LIKE LEAVES OR FALLING SNOW.

WE WATCH THEM AS THEY FLY SO HIGH, WE’LL NEVER KNOW THE REASON WHY

THEY RISK SO MUCH, AND GO SO HIGH, TO SOAR LIKE EAGLES IN THE SKY.

SO SOAR, MY FRIEND. ABOVE THE CLOUDS FOR THERE’S A PLACE FOR YOU

WHERE WINGS WILL NEVER LOSE THEIR LIFT, THE SKY IS ALWAYS BLUE

THE EAGLE’S NOW YOUR FRIEND YOU SEE AND LIKE AN EAGLE YOU WILL BE, YOU’LL FLY WITH HIM ON WINGS OF GOLD FOREVER YOUNG AND NEVER OLD

I’V STOOD AND WATCHED THE BRAVE MEN GO

WHERE ONLY EAGLES DARE TO FLY,

I’VE STOOD AND WATCHED, I WAS RIGHT THERE

WHEN BRAVE MEN TOUCHED GOD'S CLEAR BLUE SKY

DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF MY FRIEND BILL "BIRDMAN" VOGEL AND ALL HANG GLIDER PILOTS EVERYWHERE.

C. RICHARD CECIL ... "SEAJAY"

Some of this is compiled from the experience we had last year when we went up on Elk Mountain to watch Bill and his friends fly their hang gliders.