YourNNY Your Source for News & Sports in Northern New York

TWO FRIENDS IN THEIR 90S BROUGHT THE DUEL TO THE SKIES. KCCI KAYLA JAMES TAKES US TO KNOXVILLE, WHERE THE TWO OF THEM SUITED UP FOR YET ANOTHER ADVENTURE. WHEN YOU LOOK AT GENE CUTLER AND ART HESSBERG, I FINISHED MY BUCKET LIST. YOU JUST KNOW THEY HAVE STORIES TO TELL. WE’RE TWO OLD GEEZERS ABOUT THE SAME TIME. WE DRINK SCOTCH WHISKEY. THE TWO VETERANS WHO SEEM LIKE LIFETIME BEST FRIENDS ONLY MET SEVEN YEARS AGO. GENE’S WIFE DIED A COUPLE OF WEEKS BEFORE MY WIFE DIED. AND WE TOOK A GRIEF CLASS TOGETHER. AND WE’VE BEEN BUDDIES EVER SINCE. BUDDIES WHO KEEP EACH OTHER ACCOUNTABLE, LIKE FOLLOWING THROUGH ON A PROMISE MADE. OH, I WAS PRETTY PARALYZED AFTER GENE STROKE A FEW YEARS BACK. WE AGREED TO THAT THIS LONG TIME AGO. THE PROMISE? ARE YOU THE PILOT? I AM A PILOT. BUT I’M NOT YOUR PILOT. I MIGHT JUMP WITH YOU, THOUGH, TO SUIT UP. THERE WE GO. THAT’S GOOD. FROM THE BOTTOM UP, SURROUNDING THEMSELVES BY LOVED ONES. SATURDAY MORNING TO DO WHAT THEY DID FOR THE FIRST TIME TOGETHER THREE YEARS AGO. TAKE TO THE SKIES WITH THE DES MOINES SKYDIVERS SIDE BY SIDE AS THEIR LOVED ONES LOOK ON FROM BELOW. GENE GOING FIRST WITH A DIVER. THE 98 YEAR OLD LOOKING UNFAZED. ART FOLLOWING RIGHT BEHIND HIM AS THE PARACHUTES CIRCLED NEAR EACH OTHER. A CROWD OF PEOPLE, FRIENDS, FAMILY AND MORE CHEERING THE DUO ON AS THEY GLIDE BACK DOWN TO THE GROUND. GENE, YOU OKAY? BOTH FRIENDS MAKING THEIR WAY BACK TO THEIR LOVED ONES. ADDING ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL TRIP BACK DOWN TO THEIR MEMORIES. I CLAIM TO BE THE YOUNGER VET. YOU KNOW, AND THE STRONGER ONE IN SO I DECIDED THAT I HAD TO GO WITH THEM THE FIRST TIME AND THIS MOST RECENT TIME. AS FOR FUTURE SKYDIVING ADVENTURES. SO I’M GOING TO SET THE WORLD RECORD AT AGE 108. 98 YEAR OLD GENE SAYS THE SKY HASN’T SEEN THE LAST OF HIM YET.

Two veterans in their 90s go skydiving, making good on a yearslong promise following a medical emergency

A yearslong promise made after a medical emergency brought two friends and veterans in their 90s to the skies Saturday. Gene Cutler, 98, and Art Hessburg, 95, have been friends for less than a decade, but when you meet them, you would think they have been lifelong friends. In reality, it’s only been seven years. “Gene’s wife died a couple of weeks before my wife died, and we took a grief class together,” said Hessburg. “We’ve been buddies ever since.” The two are buddies who keep each other accountable. They did so on Saturday by following through on a promise made after Cutler’s stroke a few years back. “I was pretty paralyzed,” said Cutler. The promise was to go skydiving together like they did several years ago if Cutler recovered, which he did. The two suited up with the Des Moines Skydivers in Iowa and took to the sky, about 14,000 feet up high. Friends, loved ones, and more watched from the ground as the two glided down. See more in the video player above.

KNOXVILLE, Iowa —

A yearslong promise made after a medical emergency brought two friends and veterans in their 90s to the skies Saturday.

Gene Cutler, 98, and Art Hessburg, 95, have been friends for less than a decade, but when you meet them, you would think they have been lifelong friends. In reality, it’s only been seven years.

“Gene’s wife died a couple of weeks before my wife died, and we took a grief class together,” said Hessburg. “We’ve been buddies ever since.”

The two are buddies who keep each other accountable. They did so on Saturday by following through on a promise made after Cutler’s stroke a few years back.

“I was pretty paralyzed,” said Cutler.

The promise was to go skydiving together like they did several years ago if Cutler recovered, which he did.

The two suited up with the Des Moines Skydivers in Iowa and took to the sky, about 14,000 feet up high. Friends, loved ones, and more watched from the ground as the two glided down.

See more in the video player above.