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The ‘No Regrets’ slogan was born from a story Nick Jackson, one of Chris' closest friends wrote for his Composition Class at Regis University soon after we lost Chris. I had asked Chris’ closest friends to write short stories of remembrance and Nick’s wonderfully written story so perfectly captured Chris' personality ; his bravado, his quiet confidence, and yes his penchant for living on the edge- all were detailed perfectly and with such vibrant storytelling and amazement. During those same dark months, Julie, Chris’ girlfriend, emailed me an attachment of photos she had; photos that had been taken during those short months at K State during the late fall, before it got cold. We had such a mild fall and early winter in 2004 and Chris and Nate were able to take advantage of the great weather, skateboarding in the evenings after classes. The photos had been taken by a new friend Chris met at school, Nathanial LaRue, a student who was planning on majoring in Photography. Although I don’t know the details of how they met, I think they were on the same floor in the dorm at Haymaker Hall. The photos were beautifully composed and shot and when I opened the file that day, the viewing of them was devastating emotionally. He looked so happy and determined and so strong and invincible. He had grown so much into such an exceptional young man. It was after reading Nick's story that I realized Chris in fact lived his life with no regrets. He lived and enjoyed every single day of his life and treated everyone with friendship and honesty and held each new day with excitement and joy. The photos were a testament to my revelation and those two elements, Nick’s story and Nathanial’s photos were the genesis of the No Regrets slogan and the Flying at Twilight logo which was envisioned from the ‘flying’ photo on the left by my close friend and Chris’, John Musgrave. I recently asked Nathanial LaRue to recount the story of how the photo shoot took place during the fall of 2004 so I could include it in this newly designed website. He graciously agreed and here is his recollection of the events. |
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Nathanial LaRue:
The day I took the 'twilight' photo, Chris and Nathan were talking about skating. I remembered the youth group leader I was helping out had mentioned a skate park somewhere in Manhattan and so, after a little bit, we found out where it was and took a field trip. Not being a skater myself, I decided to take photos instead. I had never shot skateboarding before and after we were done, Chris and Nathan helped me out with picking the best ones. At that time, I was thinking about freelancing for the Collegian, so that was definitely in the back of my mind, although I never realized that until this past Spring (2008). The hardest time I ever had was to look at that set of photos that Winter of 2004 after Chris passed away. I don't think I've ever had one of my own photos hit me so deeply. Overall, I'm just glad I decided to take those photos that day and throughout the semester. Otherwise, there might not be a photographic record of Chris' time here at K-State. His bio: I'm currently in my 5th year at K-State majoring in Marketing and working for the student newspaper, The Collegian. My future plans are to do something with photography, which might include a photo studio or business.
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John Musgrave is my closet friend and my ally. He is and was always Christopher’s friend. They were gaming compadres, always talking about some new game that one or the other was interested in. When Chris would go to the warehouse with me, John was always there and they would immediately begin talking about movies, the latest video games or cars. John knew my son well and I know he felt deeply and fondly of him; Chris felt the same and told me many times how much he enjoyed his conversations with John. Some months or maybe longer after we lost Chris; time has not been my friend so I have many lapses of intervals of time, John expressed an idea of commemorating Chris’ life by designing a T shirt or cap or something that we could design and give to friends and family. By that time I had the ‘Flying’ photo tacked to the grimy warehouse office wall and I remember vividly the day he looked at it and came up with the ‘Flying’ logo idea. It was his idea and his alone. My contribution was the circle around the silhouette. John came back later with some mock ups he had designed on his computer and from there the final vision took form. After we had decided on a final design, our friend and customer Tom Duy made the silk screens for the T’s and the embroidered lettering and imaging for the caps . We have the original white T's designed by John and now the blue and black T's which are slightly different along with static cling window stickers for cars and windows.
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