Whee, Blue Skies, Bring Rob Stanley home

My brother Robert (Rob) Stanley, passed away on July 4 in Jinan China. He had been doing the outside camera work for another tandem jump. As he approached the ground, at about 10 meters, his canopy collapsed. He was not able to recover and had a fatal landing. Many thanks to those who were there with him at that time.


Rob’s love of the sky started at a very young age. The four Stanley kids, me, Jo, Rick and Rob would sit outside the house on the sheep  farm near St Agatha. The clear summer nights were perfect for stargazing. My dad, John, would point out the constellations: Orion, the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper, Cassiopeia, the North Star. He would talk about weather and we would watch the heat lightning in the distance.


This led to a fascination with rockets, fireworks, science fiction, science and how the world works. The three boys started skydiving at Parachute School of Toronto in the early 1980’s. My mom would often go up to Arthur to watch them. They quickly moved into canopy formation work, relative work, free flying and of course BASE jumping. I remember being the “getaway driver” for an antenna jump early in the morning. “Don’t hang around”, they said, “let’s go before the farmer sees us”.


Parachuting became his passion, his life. Every weekend and every penny went to skydiving. He traveled and competed all around the world.


Rob spent many years at Cross Keys, New Jersey. He met so many people and some of them became his second family.


He also worked and jumped in Florida, Puerto Rico, Utah, South Africa, Australia ( twice), Thailand, Dubai and most recent in China. His family is world wide!


Rob was not a material person, nor religious but spiritual and deeper than he looked. I would like to memorialize him in a unique and creative way. If I could get his remains into space, I would!

First, we need to get his remains and his things back home to Canada.


Any assistance you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Details of the Celebration will be determined later.


Thanks to all of those who have shared stories and photos! Rob would have been humbled to realize what an impact he had.