Welcome FierceCritter

[John Barresi]

Hello @FierceCritter,

Welcome to KiteLife®!

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[FierceCritter]

Hi, John. Thank you for the welcome!

Whereas I am sure to be a stranger to just about everyone on this forum, my dad, Eugene (Mean Gene) Remisiewicz will probably be known to at least a handful.

Dad was active in the Kite community dating all the way back to the mid-80's when he befriended John Antaya of Grand Bay Kite Company in Traverse City, Michigan, who sadly passed in 2009. I can remember him coming back to our campsite in a campground in Grawn, MI, with his first Trlby. He was a great coach right from the start, showing me how to get it in the air, do spins, etc. His collection of kites and his involvement in the scene ballooned exponentially from there.

He befriended Jon and Marieanne of Skyburner, and frequented their store, Kites & Fun Things nearly every Wednesday for years. He was usually at the field on the campus of Schoolcraft College weekly as well.

He befriended the members of the WindJammers out of Detroit. I'm pretty sure he had a friend or two from Revolution Kites. He became acquainted with Lam Hoc, Steve Rutkowski out of Traverse City, and so many others, the names of which I can't personally pull easily from memory.

Dad had a natural understanding of how stunt kites worked, and an uncanny knack for customizing bridles, spars & sails. He customized kites for many a flyer. Many might still have one of his original handmade sleeving needles in their kit - one even appears in a picture book about kites published in the 80's or 90's.

I could go on and on with names of people Dad knew, and things he did. He never competed, but often coached. He worked safety at many a competition, riding his bike across the field, probably up into his 80's.

I used to fly with Dad quite a bit. He initially tried to encourage me to compete. But once it became about competition, flying lost some of its fun. So I just enjoyed going out to local parks and fields and flying with Dad. I loved accompanying him to kite festivals and exhibitions from the Howell Balloon Festival to the inaugural Detroit Kite Festival, which we attended on Belle Isle in 2017 when Dad was 91 years old. The photo I'm attaching is of him being interviewed by Channel 4 that day. He was over the moon.

I'm very sad to say that Dad passed in 2020, just 3 days after his 94th birthday. I lovingly mounted a red, white and blue Skyburner over his casket, and a smaller dual-line delta placed in the hallway was all anyone who knew him needed to know in which room his viewing was being held. I can just picture him in Heaven, showing the angels a thing or two about what it means to fly.

I am joining the forum out of an interest of getting involved in flying again myself. And while up until now I've only been lurking, it's brought back such great memories of Dad, and thus much joy. I'm looking forward to reading and conversing with both veteran and new flyers.

Camille Remi

[Mike Eibey]

Welcome! You'll fit in just fine here. Thats an amazing story by the way. Very sorry to hear about the loss of your father. I'm sure he's very happy to see he has passed his love of flying on to you.