A 93-year old Junction City resident, Calvin Canniff, skydived for the first time on Friday.

The senior minister at the First Christian Church in Junction City Ronnie Roberts helped arrange the tandem jump overseen by the K-State Parachute Club of Abilene. A tandem jump is where you skydive attached to a partner.

Roberts traveled to Abilene where the skydive occurred. He noted Canniff brought several layers of clothing due to the cool weather conditions at the higher elevations. “He was given a little instruction and they loaded up in the airplane and took off. ”

Roberts was watching when Canniff landed after his jump. “As we were watching the plane someone yelled and we looked off to the west of us, and there were all kinds of chutes and jumpers coming down. ” Roberts added the last jumper was Calvin and his partner. “They came down and just floated down, an easy drop. Several of the guys who arrived earlier received him. So it was a nice easy come-down.”

Roberts noted that Canniff was smiling and seemed to be glad to be back on earth, and that his biggest concern had been the cold during the jump.