Jessie Farrington, D-6853, served on the USPA Board as a regional director for many years and has a long history in the sport. She is part of a large family of skydivers. Her father, Lenny Aikins, got her started in 1964. She has owned Kapowsin Air Sports in Shelton, Washington, with her husband, Geoff, for decades. Her children, Andy Farrington and Keri Bell, are extremely talented skydivers who made many jumps while still in the womb. And her brother, nieces and nephews are all skydivers, and a fourth generation is on the way.

As you all know there is a glaring need for a nation-wide system of qualified parachute instructors. I will not beat the bushes about the fact of life that most accidents are rooted in poor or inadequate training. The USPA Safety and Train­ing Committee has been working on the development of a Jumpmaster/Instructor system for several years, and is at this time proposing such a system be incorporated into the oper­ation of the USPA.