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Father of two young children dies skydiving, GoFundMe begins for his family

Father's skydiving tragedy

A GoFundMe page has been set-up after a father of two young children was killed in a tragic skydiving accident last week. 

On July 5, James Smith passed away in a catastrophic skydiving accident, leaving behind his wife, Marlena, his 3-year-old daughter, Cedar, and his 8-month-old son, Bodhi. 

Family member, Murrin Bewick set up the fund saying her uncle “had attempted a technical skydive move called “swooping”, he miscalculated and died on impact.”

The accident happened near Nanoose Bay.

“He had successfully done this maneuver many times as he was a skydiving instructor with over 1000 jumps,” added Bewick. 

The Victoria resident was a “professional skydiver and a self-employed carpenter that was well respected by his peers,” stated on the GoFundMe page. 

The GoFundMe page says Smith was able to provide a decent family income but was not covered by any extra insurance and did not have a "rainy day" fund.

His wife, Marlena is a stay-at-home mom. Bewick started the fundraiser to help financially aid the young BC family. 

The fundraiser began on July 7 and was hoping to raise $20,000, but by July 9 at 5 p.m. had already raised almost $25,000. 



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