Gary Patmor has lived a life of adventure and at 89 years old, the retired aerospace engineer is showing age doesn’t mean adventures have to end.
So he chose to go skydiving.
“Oh, it is just fun exciting,” he said.
While he is a man of few words, Patmor is a man with plenty of stories he could tell. He’s logged more than 1,300 jumps out of civilian, military, antique and experimental aircrafts.
In 1962, Patmor sky-surfed with a 4-foot boogie board and has been towed behind an airplane. He survived 38 malfunctioning parachutes and he even doubled for Steve McQueen on film.
“He did stunts for the commercials and also for movies,” said Patmor’s wife of 30 years, Sheri.
His backstory has been an incredible journey he has shared with others.
“He was actually also the first person to mount a Sony camera and jump out of a plane,” said Jocelyn Brito, a social worker for Suncrest Hospice in Riverside where Patmor is now a patient. “So kind of like GoPros nowadays, but a Sony camera.”
Life has slowed down a bit for Patmor but that doesn’t mean much.