Fred Sand, who ran the Skydive Lost Prairie drop zone for 42 years and mentored hundreds of skydivers, died Monday at his home. He was 69.

A lifelong Flathead Valley resident, Sand was the heart and soul of the local skydiving community, with the Skydive Lost Prairie Boogie drawing hundreds of parachutists from throughout the country to the remote airstrip near Marion. He is being fondly remembered on social media this week as a caring soul, a great person and a gracious man.

“Sad day in the prairie for sure,” one Facebook commenter wrote. “He will be greatly missed.

Gail Linne of Whitefish has stayed connected with Sand and the skydiving community through the years, and she fondly remembers how he was a mentor to so many skydivers. Her 25-year-old son Joel, a tandem-jump instructor at Lost Prairie, was one of five people killed in 2007 when their Cessna 182-C crashed while trying to make an emergency landing at Skydive Lost Prairie.

“He knew everybody in the sky family personally, and always remembered their full name, where they were from and what their credentials were,” Linne recalled. “He cared deeply about other people and thought of other people first. He was a mentor to so many.”

Sand participated in the final memorial “ash dive” to spread Joel’s remains at Lost Prairie, and Linne tenderly recalls that special day.

Afterward, Sand told those attending “it was a tremendous, great honor to make that jump with Joel,” Sand said. “And you know, the sky was his playground, so he’s there now for sure.”

SAND MADE his first jump on the Fourth of July in 1971 after two weekends of training, and recalled his initial reaction in a Daily Inter Lake interview in 2000.

“Yeah, I was scared. That’s a normal human reaction,” he said, but added: “I liked the adrenaline, the freedom, the aesthetics of doing this in a beautiful area.”

Sand always made a jump on the Fourth of July to commemorate that first jump, Linne said.

Dick Rapacilo of Kalispell, a seasoned skydiver who was featured in a U.S. Parachute Association article several years ago, was called “The King of Lost Prairie” by the publication.

“But,” Rapacilo told the Inter Lake, “Fred was the REAL King of Lost Prairie.

“He was the first one in our group to make 8,000 jumps, and that was several years ago,” Rapacilo said. “To this day, he’s the only one in our local group to do that.”

Rapacilo recalled how Sand would fire up the big wood stove in the hangar so local skydivers could warm up and make jumps during the winter months when the weather cooperated.

“He went out of his way to make jumping happen all winter,” he added.

“He was not only our drop zone owner, we trusted him with our lives, and he always got the job done correctly,” Rapacilo said.

Sand was a master parachute rigger and rigger examiner, certified by the Federal Aviation Agency.

Sand’s wife Lenni helped operate Skydive Lost Prairie, and was also a skydiving aficionado.

The 2000 Inter Lake article noted how Sand met Lenni at a parachuting event in 1981 in which they both participated.

Sand stopped jumping several years ago to help care for his wife as her health declined. Though Lenni is now in an assisted-living facility, Sand was devoted to her care.

“He was a loyal, loving husband,” Linne said. “He was there [at the assisted living facility] constantly.”

Sand continued with rigging work until about a year ago, Rapacilo said.

A celebration in honor of Sand that was planned July 4 at his drop zone in Lost Prairie has been canceled. Friends will hold an informal gathering at a later date yet to be determined.

News editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.