Jacques-André Istel

Jacques-André Istel (born 1930 in France) is a French-American recreational parachutist and investment banker [ [http://www.clui.org/clui_4_1/lotl/lotlv10/voyage.html CLUI Newsletter] ] widely responsible for popularizing parachuting in the United States. He is sometimes called "the father of American skydiving." [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/03/AR2005120301211.html Sports Innovator William H. Ottley Dies] ]

Early life

Istel was born in France to Yvonne Istel, a prominent volunteer in both World War I and World War II, [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B05EED7153AF93AA35755C0A962958260&sec=&spon= New York Times Obituary] ] and André Istel, an investment banker. He and his family fled France in 1940 to avoid the German invasion.Bartletti, Don. [http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-felicity16apr16,0,1610854.story "Desert monument captures history on stone."] Los Angeles Times. April 16, 2008.] He later studied economics at Princeton University, graduating in 1949, [http://www.princeton.edu/~paw/archive_new/PAW00-01/12-0321/classnotes.html Princeton Class Notes] ] and served in the U.S. Marines during the Korean War. [Wilcox, Len. "Desert Dancing: Exploring the Land, the People, the Legends of the California Desert." New Jersey: Hunter Publishing, 2000.]

Parachuting

Istel first tried parachuting in 1950, and quickly became an expert. He soon started popularizing parachuting in America by touring college campuses and leading the American team he organized [Emerson, Gloria. [http://www.hongik.edu/~yhyo/levin.doc "Take the Plunge..."] ] to the World Championship of Parachuting in 1956. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,867798,00.html Time Magazine - The Case for the Parachute] ] [ [http://www.uspa.org/publications/parachutist/online%20archives/2007/06.07/capcom06.07.htm United States Parachute Association] ] In 1958, he captained the U.S. team that won the French Coupe du Monde, together with Lew Sanborn, Dana Smith, and Charlie Hillard. [ [http://www.parachutehistory.com/men/sanbornl.html Lew Sanborn Biography] ] He insisted on safety while parachuting, [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,940320-1,00.html Time Magazine - Jumping for Joy] ] discussing safety regulations with the Civil Aeronautics Administration and pioneering the Telsan technique with Sanborn. He also co-founded Parachutes, Inc. with Sanborn, [Taylor, Robert Lewis. [http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1959/01/24/1959_01_24_042_TNY_CARDS_000256882 "NO FEELING OF FALLING."] "The New Yorker." January 24, 1959: 42.] a company that designed parachutes and opened the first parachuting school in America. He was awarded the Leo Stevens Award for parachuting in 1958, and, decades later, the award is given by a museum in the town he founded. [ [http://www.parafame.org/history_of_leo_stevens_award.htm History of the Leo Stevens Award] ] He made his last jump in 1972 and sold Parachutes, Inc. in the mid-1980s.

Felicity, California

In 1985, Istel wrote a children's book entitled "Coe, the Good Dragon at the Center of the World", and a year later founded the town of Felicity, California, named after his wife, Felicia. The town has a plaque inside of a pyramid on which the story claims the center of the world is located. The town also has various other structures, including numerous granite monuments on which important names and events are engraved, [ [http://www.felicityusa.com/ Official Felicity Website] ] as well as about 30 people. In 1985, Imperial County, California recognized the site as the center of the world, as did the French government in 1989. [Moran, Mark "et al." "Weird California." Sterling, 2006] He is currently the mayor of Felicity. [ [http://www.roadsideamerica.com/sights/sightstory.php?tip_AttrId=%3D2036 Official Center of the World] ] He also gained two write-in votes in the 2003 California election as a Republican. [ [http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/sov/2003_special/sum.pdf Official Declaration of the Result of the Statewide Special Election held on Tuesday, October 7, 2003, throughout the State of California on Statewide Measures Submitted to a Vote of Electors] ]

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