Don "Uncle Don" Yahrling passed away shortly before Thanksgiving, 2005. His skydiving career took him to almost every country in the world where skydiving took place and he, probably, taught, coached and mentored more skydivers than anybody else in the sport.

Don evaluated Instructors in every discipline, and if you passed one of his courses, you KNEW you were ready. As a DPRE he helped many people achieve their rigging goals, and there are a lot of skydivers who owe their lives to his rigging talents.

If you really knew Don, you almost certainly argued with him at some point. You were allowed to do that because Don would listen to your point of view, and was not above changing his opinions if you presented a good case. You could find him sitting on the bench outside of his office, smoking a cigarette and sipping from the ever present coffee mug (unless it was beer thirty) most days, and if you took the time to sit with him and chat (well, listen really) you would come away wiser and safer.

Don, the coffee pot is definitely emptier today.......... we miss you buddy.

If you have any pictures of Don for this page, please email them to sid@sidsrigging.com